Ch 14 Intellectual Property and Internet Law

Trade Secret

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

Intellectual Property

Property resulting from intellectual, creative processes. Patents, trademarks, and copyrights are examples of intellectual property.

Distributed Network

A network that can be used by persons located (distributed) around the country or the globe to share computer files.

Trade Name

A term that is used to indicate part of all of a business's name and that is directly related to the business' reputation and goodwill. Trade names are protected under the common law (and under trademark law, if the name is the same as the firm's trademark).

Cyber Mark

A trademark in cyberspace.

Domain Name

The series of letters and symbols used to identify site operators on the internet; internet "addresses."

Trademark

A distinctive mark, motto, device, or implement that a manufacturer stamps, prints, or otherwise affixes to the goods it produces so that they may be identified on the market and their origins made known. Once a trademark is established (under the common law or through registration), the owner is entitled to its exclusive use.

Patent

A government grant that gives an inventor the exclusive right or privilege to make, use, or sell his or her invention for a limited time period. The word patent usually refers to some invention and designates either the instrument by which patent rights are evidenced or the patent itself.

Certification Mark

A mark used b one or more persons, other than the owner, to certify the region, materials, mode of manufacture, quality, or accuracy of the owner's goods or services. When used by members of a cooperative, association, or other organization, such a mark is referred to as a collective mark. Examples of certification marks include the "Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval" and "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 union marks found on tags of certain products and the credits of movies, which indicate the various associations and organizations that participated in the making of the movies.

Service Mark

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

Cybersquatting

The act of registering a domain name that is the same as or confusingly similar to, the trademark of another and then offering to sell that domain name back to the trademark owner.

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 trademark, but it differs in that it applies exclusively to works or art, literature, and other works of authorship, including computer programs.

Trade Dress

The image and overall appearance of a product - for example, the distinctive decor, menu, layout, and style of service of a particular restaurant. Basically, trade dress is subject to the same protection as trademarks.

Dilution

With respect to trademarks, a doctrine under which distinctive or famous trademarks are protected from certain unauthorized uses of the marks regardless of a showing of competition 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.

Meta Tag

Words inserted into a Web site's keywords field to increase the site's appearance in search engine results.