chapter 28 bus law intellectual property

application of patent law to computer hardware and software

-requirements and their application: 1) the invention must be a device 2) the invention must be useful 3) the invention must be novel (or new) 4) the invention must be non obvious

application of trade secret law to computer software

-some developers of commercial software have attempted to protect against pirated copying by claiming that the program is a trade secret. bc most software is prepared for wide distribution it's difficult to protect a computer program from being copied by making this argument. -however, if a program such as a complex accounting and budgeting program is highly specialized and not intended for wide distribution, it would likely be considered a trade secret

application of trademark law to cyberspace

-a business needs to be extremely vigilant to ensure that its valuable trademark is protected in cyberspace -domain names: is a unique identifier that serves as as address for a web page. it consists of several characters and numerals followed by a suffix that can be: .com, .org, .gov, .edu. it's important to companies to own the sequence of characters and/or numbers in order that web users may be properly directed to the company's site. -private firms are responsible for assigning domain names, but first an individual or company must promise to not use a domain name that's someone else's trademark. registering or using another person's or company's domain name in bad faith for the purpose of earning a profit is referred to as cybersquatting.

application of copyright law to software and cyberspace

-in cases where there is the need to determine whether a person or business has violated copyright of another, courts use the substantial similarity test: a test that is used to determine whether an ordinary reasonable observer comparing two works would have to conclude that the work being questioned was copied from the other

intellectual property denied

-intellectual property: personal property that includes knowledge, ways of doing things, and expressions of ideas -they're stored in computers or on web pages -it's protected through the use of trade secrets, trademarks, copyrights, and patents

trade dress

-is a destinctive, nonfunctional feature that distinguishes a merchant's or manufacturers goods or services from those of another. -the trade dress of a product relates to it's total image and can include color of the packaging or the configuration of goods.

how trademarks are lost

-many trademarks have became successful or misused that they entered the language as ordinary words. to the general public, the trademark came to mean the same as the product, no matter who manufactured it.

protecting a trademark

-never use the trademark without the generic name of the product -never use the trademark in the possessive form -always identify trademarks -continuously monitor the way the way others use your trademark

patents

-this is a valid, government granted protection awarded to inventors that gives the patent holder the exclusive right to manufacturer, use, and sell invention for 20 yrs. -this can't be renewed -the purpose is to encourage investors to develop new products and new ideas and to reward them for having done so. -they're also issued by the US patent and trademark office -they're issued for devices that are useful, novels, and non obvious creations: machines, processes, or certain chemical compounds, sometimes for scientifically engineered bacteria as well as genetically engineered forms -someone who sells without permission a patented product can be charged with infringement

copyrights

-this is a valid, government granted protection given to creators of literary, creative, or artistic works such as books, magazines, music, dramatic works, maps, works of art, motion pictures, computer programs, computer games, and videos -in order to receive copyright protection works must be 1) original 2) creative 3) and expressed in a tangible form. -works produced that have copyright in one country are protected under the law of most other countries -under law a creative work is protected for lifetime of the creator plus 70 yrs. if work is created as a result of the creator's employment then it's 95 yrs from first publication, or 120 yrs after the creation of the work, whichever is shorter. -copying without permission is referred to as infringement -the law sometimes does allow limited copying if such copying falls under the doctrine of fair use: applies when the copyrighted material is copied without authorization for use in connection with criticism, news reporting, research, education, or parody.

restrictive covenants

-this is an agreement in which the employee agrees not to work in similar employment -nearly all restrictive covenants are enforceable but some arent: requiring all clerks, shipping people, accountants, etc to have to sign one of these. it's only really reasonable when it's the big scientists who work with the secret often, although it usually isn't reasonable to have someone not be able to work in the same field for 20 yrs or anywhere in the world

agreements not to compete

-this is an agreement in which the seller of a business agrees not to begin or operate a similar business within a certain geographic area or within a specified period of time bc when a business is sold usually the trade secrets go with the selling too.

trademarks

-this is any word, name, symbol, or device or combination thereof adopted and used by a manufacturer or merchant to identify their goods and distinguish them from goods made or sold by others. this is done at the federal level by US patent and trademark office of department of commerce that's renewable for 10 yrs. -the person who's name is under the trademark is registered to whom it has been assigned may present others from: 1) using the trademark in connection with competing goods 2) using the trademark in the same or in a similar line of business 3) using marks or names so similar to those registered that reasonable people might confuse them -symbols used to distinguish services are called service marks. the laws for this are similar for trademarks.

design patents

-this is awarded to individuals or business firms to protect distinctive patterns, figures, and shapes and to prevent unauthorized copying. -have been issued for soft drink bottles, wine decanters, silverware patterns, and other unique designs -they're granted for periods of less than 20 yrs.

protecting trade secrets

-to protect a trade secret an employer may impose restrictions of secrecy on an employee or forbid the employee to work in the same line of business or for a competing firm. the employee must sign an employment contract for this kind of action to go into place. often included in the contract is a clause of paragraph called a restrictive covenant

trade secrets

-trade secret: a specialized knowledge associated with a particular business. it includes information gained during employment about such matters as manufacturing processes, practices, devices, customer lists, and other confidential information that in the hands of competitors would put the firm at a series disadvantage -economic espionage act of 1996 was passed to make the misappropriation or outright theft of trade secrets a federal crime