Intellectual Property - Digital Media

Fair Use

A concept under copyright law that allows someone to use copyrighted work, or part of work, without permission from the owner of the work. News reporting, research and teaching are normally considered fair use.

Counterfeit

An imitation or fake product that is normally made to look like a real product. Counterfeits are made without the authority of the true owner of the intellectual property rights in the products. Common counterfeit products include clothing watches, DVD's, foods, and pharmaceuticals, but virtually any type of products can be counterfeited.

Domain name

Otherwise known as an internet website address, is a series of alphanumeric strings separated by periods, such as washingtonpost.com, that identifies one or more addresses for computer network connections on the Internet.

Plagiarism

Refers to copying of another's persons idea or work and claiming it as your own.

Intellectual Property

Refers to creation of the mind: inventions, literary and artistic work, confidential information, and symbols, names, images, and designs used in commerce. This includes patents, trademark, trade secrets and copyrights.

Goodwill

Refers to the reputation, prestige and renown of the business and is considered a key ingredient in the success of a business. It is not tangible like a business building or fleet of truck or planes, but its often just as valuable, or more valuable, than such tangible assets.

Piracy

The act of producing copies of items designed to mimic legitimate products for distribution without permission form the owner of the intellectual property rights in the authentic products.

Derivative Work

This term refers to a new work that is based on a preexisting work to which enough original creative work has been added so that the new work represents an original work of authorship. It must be different enough from the original; to be considered a new work. Sequels, translations and musical arrangements are examples.

Cybersquatting

When someone registers a domain name in bad faith because they want to sell that domain name to its true owner. These people register names containing famous trademarks (like Coca-Cola Company or Pepsi) for a profit.

Trade secret

A formula, process, device or other business information that has commercial value and is kept confidential to maintain an advantage over competitors. The formula for Coca-Cola is one example of a famous trade secret.

Copyright

A from of intellectual property that protects the expression of ideas. To be protected, the expression of the idea needs to be original and be expressed in a form that allows another person to perceive the expression either alone or with the help of a machine. Books, movies, newspaper articles, music, web pages, and paintings are all examples of items that may be protected.

Service Mark

A word, name, symbol, sound, color(s) or device that identifies the goods of one manufacturer or source and distinguishes them from the services of some else. Famous service mark includes Google and Yahoo! For computer services. These marks can be registered and renewed indefinitely provided they are used in commerce.

Trade Name

Also known as commercial name, is a name used to identify a person's or entity's business or occupation. They are mostly for identification purposes for things like taxes, licenses, and contracts. They symbolize the reputation of a business as a whole, unlike trademark and service marks, which symbolize the reputation of the source for the quality of goods and services.

®

Is a symbol used in the United States and in other parts of the world to give notice that a mark is a registered trademark. In the United States, this symbol indicates that an individual/company has registered the trademark or service mark with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. If you do not own an active trademark or service mark registration, you cannot use this symbol in connection with your mark.

©

Is a symbol used in the United States to give notice that a work is protected by copyright. This symbol is normally followed by the name of the owner of the copyrighted and the year of publication. You do not need to own a copyright registration to use this symbol. Anyone who is owner of the copyrights in an original copyrightable work can use it.

Patent pending

Is a warning applied to articles to let everyone know that an application for a patent or design patent to protect some aspect of the article has been filed in the US Patent Office, but the application has not yet been approved. Anyone who copies the article should be careful because a patent could cover the article, and any person who copies the article might infringe the patent if one is issued.

Federal Law

The body of law created by the Congress of the United States to apply nationally to all matters of interstate commerce and the rights of the people under the Constitution of the United States. This body of law preempts all other laws that are in conflict.

Trademark

This is a word, name symbol, sound, color(s), or device that identifies the goods of one manufacturer or source ad distinguishes them from goods of someone else. Famous trademarks include Coca-Cola and Pepsi for soda products. Trademark can be registered and renewed indefinitely provided they are used in commerce.

Design Patent

This term gives the person who ones it the right to stop other people from making, using or selling articles that copy the appearance of an article that is shown in the design patent (like decoration on a sneaker, or shapes of an iPod® brand digital music player). These patents are obtained by filing a patent application in the US Patent and Trademark Office, which examines the application. The US Patent and Trademark Office will grant a patent if the design is new, original, and ornamental. If it is granted, it is valid for 14 years after the day the patent is granted.

Patent

This term gives the person who owns it the right to stop other people from making, using or selling the invention (like a new drug). They are obtained by filing a patent application in the US Patent and Trademark Office, which examines the application. The US Patent and Trademark Office grants one of these if the invention is new, useful, and non-obvious. If it is granted, it is valid for up to 20 years from the day the patent application is filed.