BUS LAW Ch. 7-Intellectual Property Rights

You've spent the last eighteen months writing a how-to book for entrepreneurs who want to establish their own business. As you put the final editing touches on the book, you start thinking about how you can protect your book, and how you can make sure you receive the profit from it. What do you think you should do to make sure only you can profit from your work?

Nothing; copyright protection happens automatically once the work is in tangible form.

Chloe is taking a botany class at the local university, so she purchases the textbook from the bookstore. Several of Chloe's friends are also taking the botany class. Chloe decides to make some money on her purchase of the textbook. Chloe scans the book into her computer and then sells the digital copies to her friends for 25 percent of the price they would have paid for the textbook. After selling her digital "product" to six friends, Chloe not only has more than recovered the cost of her textbook, she can still sell the book back to the bookstore at the end of the semester. Genius! By scanning and selling the textbook, Chloe has:

committed copyright infringement because her actions are not permissible under the first sale doctrine.

Which of the following types of trademarks are in the correct order, from highest protection to lowest protection?

fanciful, arbitrary, suggestive, descriptive, generic

Monica has created her own cleaning solution. Monica's friends encourage her to sell the cleaning solution; they think it is so fantastic they believe Monica will make a lot of money on it. They encourage Monica to apply for a patent on the cleaning solution formula so that no one can copy it, and so Monica will be the only one who can sell it. Monica likes the idea of making a lot of money but knows she will have to reveal her formula to obtain a patent, otherwise she would have to keep it a trade secret. If Monica decides to apply for and receives a patent on the cleaning solution:

she has revealed the formula, but has the sole right to produce it and sell it for twenty years.

Arvitz purchases a copy of Wordsample 7.0 software, the newest version of the word processing program he normally uses. Arvitz wants to share a copy of the software with his friends Kim and Carrie, but the program was designed to only be copied once. Arvitz is a decent programmer, so after spending a little time with the program, Arvitz learns how to bypass the code that only allows the program to be copied once. Arvitz then makes copies of the program and gives these copies to Kim and Carrie. By copying the word processing program and giving the program to his friends, Arvitz has violated:

the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

Benita has a food truck where she sells spicy fried gorditas. Benita has been making the gorditas for years, using her family's recipe that has been passed down from generation to generation. Benita wants to protect her family recipe from being revealed to anyone else, so Benita considers the options available to her for the protection of her intellectual property. Because Benita's main concern is protecting the recipe from being revealed to anyone else, Benita's best approach is to treat the family fried gordita recipe as a:

trade secret.

Patentability requires the invention be:

novel, non-obvious, and useful.

How long do you think the protection for your book will last?

as long as you live, plus seventy years

In this case, the Jarvinens _____ discover the secret by improper means. Dalton _____make reasonable efforts to keep his customer list secret. If Dalton sued the Jarvinens for violation of trade secret law, Dalton would likely be _____.

1. did 2. did 3. successful

The Lanham Act:

protects the rights of trademark holders.

The holder of a utility patent may protect their rights for:

20 years from the date they apply for the patent.

Dakota's series of romantic novels is very popular in the United States, so much so that her publisher, Antwone, wants to begin publishing the novels in other countries as well. Antwone approaches a publishing house in Australia, and the publishing house is open to discussing a deal. Dakota is concerned that her copyright only protects her in the United States, so Dakota asks Antwone to research that for her. When Antwone researches that issue for Dakota, he will discover that:

Dakota's novels will be protected if both the United States and Australia are signatories to the Berne Convention.

A trade secret is typically information that contains _____ value. Research plans, pricing information, marketing methods, production techniques, and development ideas _____ possible examples of trade secrets. _____ copyright and trademark protection, protection of trade secrets _____ to both ideas and their expression.

1. commercial 2. are 3. unlike 4. extends

Information _____ have to be registered or filed with a government agency in order to receive trade secret protection. A customer list _____ potentially be a trade secret.

1. does not 2. can

The use of Dalton's customer list by the Jarvinens likely _____ constitute a breach of duty owed to the other party. Therefore, the Jarvinens are probably _____ to Dalton for violation of trade secret law.

1. does not 2. not liable

Dalton's customer list _____ confidential and _____ openly available to employees. Dalton _____names of the tour group customers openly available to other customers and the public. The Jarvinens _____ break into Dalton's computer or lockbox in order to obtain the customer list. As a result, Dalton's customer list likely _____ a secret discovered by improper means.

1. was not 2. was 3. had 4. did not 5. was not