legal environment of business chapter 8

intellectual property

property resulting from intellectual, creative processes. patents, trademarks, & copyright are examples of intellectural property

trademark

a disinctive mark, motto, device, or implement that a manufacter stamps, prints, or otherwise affixes to the goods it produces so that they may be indentified on the market & their orgins made known. once a trademark is established (under the common law or through registration), the owner is entitled to its exclusive use.

serivce mark

a mark used in the sale or the advertising of services, such as the distinguish the services of one person from the services of others. titles, character names, & other distinctive features of radio & television programs may be registered as service marks

dilution

with respect to trademarks, a doctrine under which distinctive or famous trademarks are protected from certain unauthorized uses regardless or a showing of competitiion or a likelihood of confusion. congress created a federal cause of action for dilution in 1995 with the passage of the federal trademark dilution act

certification mark

a mark used by one of more persons, other than the owner, to certify the region, materials, mode of manufacture, quality, or accuracy of the owners goods or services. examples of certification marks include the “good housekeeping seal of approval” & “UL tested”

collective mark

a mark used by members of a cooperative, association, or other organization to certify the region, materials, mode of manufacture, quality, or accuracy of the specific goods or services. examples of collective marks include the labor uinion marks found on tags of certain products & the credits of movies, which indicate the various associations & organizations that participated in the making of movies

trade name

a term that is used to indicate part of all of a business name & that is directly related to the businesses reputation & goodwill. trade names are protected under the common law (and under trademark law, if the name is the same as the firms trademark

trade dress

the image & overall appearance of a product - for example, the distinctive decor, menu, layout & style of serivce of a particulur resturant. basically, trade dress is subject to the same protection as trademarks

license

(1) in the context of intellectural property, a contract permitting the use of a trademark, copyright, patent, or trade secret for certain purposes. (2) in the context for real property, a revocable right or privilege of a person to come on another persons land

patent

a government grant that gives an inventor the exclusive right or privilege to make, use, or sell his o her invention for a limited time period

copyright

the exclusive right of authors to publish, print, or sell an intellectual production for a statutory period of time. a copyright has the same monopolistic nature as a patent or trademakr but it differs in that it applies exclusively to works of art, literature, & other works of authorship including computer programs

trade secret

information or a process that gives a business an advantage over competitors who do not know the information or process