Chapter 11: Intellectual property Flashcards
(32 cards)
Intellectual property
Includes trade secrets, patents, trademarks, copyrights
If a company isn’t willing to protect a trade secret, it’s not really a trade secret
Justification for IP
We want whoever creates this invention to benefit personally from it, not allow any random person to benefit from it
Allows for more people to be productive and work harder to create new things
U.S. constitution - to promote science and arts
Business Assets Types
tangible
- Physical - land and equipment
intangible
- Knowledge - based resources
What is IP grounded in?
IP is grounded in the concept of incentives, without these the pace of research and development would slow down significantly
trade secrets
Trade secrets - what company takes reasonable measures to keep private, smth one’s competitors would pay for ex. Formula for Coca Cola, or a marketing strategy
2 conditionals for trade secrets
information must have/be:
- economic value from no being generally known
- subject of reasonable efforts for maintaining secrecy
Steps to keep trade a secret
Audit to identify knowledge resources
Preserve secrecy
- Locking formulas
- Protective firewalls
- Regulate visitor access
protecting trade secrets from employees
Businesses must take reasonable measures to protect trade secrets from employees
Confidentiality (non-compete) agreements
Must be for a valid business purpose
Civil & Criminal enforcement
Injunction to prevent use of divulging of secret
When one improperly acquires secretly acquires information through burglary, espionage, or hacking - civil and criminal consequences
patents
conveys right to exclude others from making, using, selling, importing
Legal monopoly in
Exclusive right in copying, reproducing, marketing, selling new production
steps to obtain patent
- File application
- Filing fee
- Explain invention
- Show difference from prior art
Important, how is this invention new? How does it differ from previous products - Describe patentable aspects
3 types of patents
Design
Utility
Plant
patentable subject matter
Not patentable - mathematical algorithms, no obvious change/observations - “sky is blue”
Must be useful - adding a bow to a mouse trap won’t help you in catching mice
Doesn’t add to usefulness? - not patentable
Processes as Patentable
Mere ideas are not patentable
Business methods historically unpatentable
Algorithms - only patentable if tied to machine or transformation of physical object
Characteristics of patentability
Nonobviousness
Novel - new and diffeerent
Useful.- must have utility
duration of patent enforcement
Utility - 20 years
Plant - 20 years
Design - 15 years
Property is technically not considered valid/perfected until sued upon and patent upholds
issues w/ patents
patent trolls
pharmaceutical patents
human genes
trademarks
Marks on what is produced to represent the origin of goods and serves
Recognizability or distinctiveness
think: Don’t need to see the name of something because of the distinctiveness of characteristics in the stores
types of trademarks
trademark
service mark
certification mark
collective mark
trade dress
Service mark
Same as trademark except associated with service rather than product
Certification mark
Used by others to designate certification or approval
Collective mark
Membership of a collective organization
NFL logo
Trade dress
Total image and overall appearance of something
registration of trademarks
Must be used in interstate commerce
Must re-register every 10 years
Must be distinctive, new, not generic
Notice (official gazette)
