Chapter 7

Service mark

(Similar to trademarks) used to distinguish the services of one person or company from another. EX airlines. Titles and character names in radio and TV

Un-patentable categories

1. Yhe laws of nature. 2. Natural phenomena. 3. Abstract ideas

Trademark, trade dress or service mark.

A distinctive mark, motto, device, or emblem that a manf. stamps, prints or otherwise affixes to the goods it produces so that they may be identified on the market and their origins are known. Once the trademark is established (under common law or through registration) owner has exclusive rights to it. Duration is unlimited as long as it is in use. owner must renew by filing between 5th and 6th year 1st time and every 10 yrs there after. Remedy: 1. injunction prohibiting future use of trademark, 2. actual damages plus profits, can be increased under Lanham act. 3. destruction of articles. 4. plus costs and Att fees.

Patent

A grant from the gov. that gives an inventor exclusive rights to an invention. 20 yrs from date of application, for design patents, 14 yrs. Acquired by filing a patent application. Remedy: money, including royalties and lost profits, plus att fees. damages may be triple for international. A patent can also be given for software.related inventions. Business processes are patentable.

Licensing

A license is an agreement permitting the use of the trademark, copyright, patent, or trade secret for certain purposes and a specified time frame.

Distributed network

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

Cybersquatting

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

Copyright

Copyright act of 1976. The right of an author or originator of a literary or artistic work, or other production that falls within a specified category, to have the exclusive use of that work for a given period of time. acquired once it is in tangible form, only expression, not the idea itself. duration, author, life plus 70 yrs. Publishers, 95 yrs after date of publication or 120 yrs after creation. remedy: actual damages plus profits or statutory damages not to exceed $150,000 plus cost and Att fees. Works created after jan.1 1978 are given statutory copyright. Categories. 1. literary works 2. musical works 3. dramatic works 4. pantomimes and choreographic works 5. pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works 6. films and other audiovisual works 7. sound recordings. and work must be fixed in a durable medium which it can be perceived, reproduced, or communicated. registration is not required.and idea can patented, but but the way the idea is expressed can be copyrighted.

NET act

Criminal penalties, up to $250,000 and up to 5 yrs in jail.

Dilution (congree amended Lanham act in 1995) Federal trademark Dilution Act.

Extends the protection available to trademark owners cause of action for trademark Dilution. This protects famous marks regardless of showing competition or likelyhood of confussion. If it reduces the value of the famous mark or lessens its capacity to identify the mark may be diluted, placing it in violation.

Strong marks

Fanciful, arbitrary, or suggestive trademarks are generally considered to be the most distinctive (stongest) trademarks because they are taken from outside the context of the product.

Secondary Meaning

Geographic terms, personal names are not distinctive until they acquire secondary meaning. London Fog

Copyright infringement

If a substantial part of the original is reproduced, there is infringement.

Fanciful trademarks

Invented words such as "Xerox"

Trademark registration

Maybe filed with state or federal gov. To register for protection they must file application with US patent trademark office. Mark can be registered if. 1. in currently in commerce, 2. if planned to use in commerce within 6 months.

Intellectual property

Property resulting from intellectual, creative processes. The products of an individuals mind.

Trade Dress

Refers to image and overall apperance of a product. same protection as trademarks. Distinctive decor, menu, layout, style colors. EX , Mexican restaurant.

Fair use act

can reproduce without paying fees. for criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching,scholarship, or research. factors that will be considered 1. is it for commercial or educational purposes 2. the nature of the copyright material 3. the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work 4. the effect of the use upon the potential market.

Trademark infringement

does not need to be registered to sue, butregistration does furnish proof of date of inception of trademark use.

Dilution in the online world

does not require proof that consumers are likely to be confused. For this reason the products do not have to be similar.

Trade secret

duration, unlimited as long as not reveled to others. Once reveled they are no longer trade secrets. Remedy: Money damages for misappropriation, Uniform trade secrets act permits punitive damages if willful. plus costs and Att fees.

Lanham act of 1946

enacted to protect manf. from loosing business to rival Co. that used confusingly similar trademarks. Incorporated the common law of trademarks and provides remedies.

Arbitrary trademarks

include actual words that have no literal connection to the product, EX, English Leather.

peer to peer networking

sharing resources, (such as files, hard drives, and processing styles) among multiple computers, without a central network server.

Economic espionage act

theft of trade secrets a federal crime

Restatement of torts

those who disclose or use anothers trade secret, without authorization are liable if. 1.they discovered the secret by improper means. 2. their disclosure or use constitutes a breach of duty owed to the other party. 3.

Certification mark

used by someone other than owner of company to certify region, materials, quality, or accuracy. EX, good house keeping, UL tested, DOT approved.

Generic terms

words like Bicycle, computer receive no protection. Asprin, thermos were trademarked, but lost trademark when words were used generically to describe that item no mater what brand.

Trade name

Trademarks apply to property. name is used indicate part or all of business's name, Are protected under common law (and under trademark law, if the name is the same as that of the firms trademarked property. EX, Coca-Cola, As with trademarks names must be unusual or fancifully used to be protected.

Compilations of facts

are copyrightable. defined as" a workformed by the collection and assembling of preexisting materials of data that are selected, coordinated, or arranged in such a way that the resulting work as a whole constitutes an original work.

Suggestive trademarks

Those that suggest something about the product without describing the product directly. EX, dairy Queen