INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY. Intellectual property is the product of their thinking that can be used for commercial value. In other words, think of a song and write the words - you have the legal right to prevent others from copying or making a song based on lyrics. This right you can make money if someone is willing to pay for his song. Maybe your boss asked you to write a computer program.
Who owns the work? You have made a new mouse trap and has the design on the computer. Or create a distinctive logo for your company. But intellectual property goes beyond the songs or the copyright, even. Let's examine the four main areas of Intellectual Property law, trade secrets, copyrights, trademarks and patents.
Trade secrets
Trade secrets give the owner a competitive advantage. If any information is valuable to competitors and do not know - then it is a trade secret. If the information was reasonably secure (secret), then there is a trade secret. Trade secrets can be sold for business or bad employee theft. Maybe a former employee did not sign a confidentiality statement before going to work for the competition. Some software engineers also reverse to get the source code. This heavily guarded source code for computers is their trade secret, gives them an advantage over the competition. The trick is that you have to keep their trade secrets as such secrets.
Copyright
Copyright protects all types of writing the singers, writers, programmers, artists, etc. .. These are the best known of all intellectual property. Register with the U.S. Copyright can improve the automatic protection. You must have your copyright material on paper, tape, or computer. Copyright protection applies to the "literal expression." It protects the "base" is the theme of writing. There should be a little creativity. You can not copyright a simple list. It does not really have a copyright notice from March 1, 1989. The announcement was recommended is called "copyright" author of the year. For example, this article is copyrighted. Copyright 2005 Stuart Simpson. But it is not necessary.
Brands
Trademarks must be a unique name, design, symbol, logo, color, container, etc. .. that companies use to distinguish their products from others in the same market. You must have a name for a brand, as common words receive the least protection. Like Stuart cold ice cream company. My name and the descriptive term (cold) are weak marks. But a distinctive name, like Netflix, is a strong brand. Netflix is technically a "service" brand. It falls into the same category as trademarks. Your brand must be submitted to the U.S. Patent Office and Trademark Office (PTO). But first, the mark must be put into use "in commerce that Congress can regulate." This means that you have to sell to another state or a company that caters to interstate or international travelers. After doing this, you may have another way to show the mark is actually used. The controls for the PTO similar mark. You can 't use the ® symbol yet. You can only use this if your logo or trademark has been registered.
Patents
The law of patents gives new and special inventor the right to use this invention for a fixed period of time. U.S. PatentTrademark Office (PTO) must determine that the invention qualifies for patent protection. Your invention must be new and novel, not obvious. What is a patent? Normally, the inventors to obtain a license agreement with a company to produce the product for a period of time. Instead, the company pays royalties inventor of each item sold.
Intellectual property goes beyond the depth at each of these elements. I wanted to give a brief description to help expand your knowledge base to write, create or invent. If your work falls into one of the above categories, do more research. I will write in each specific area in the future.
Trade secrets
Trade secrets give the owner a competitive advantage. If any information is valuable to competitors and do not know - then it is a trade secret. If the information was reasonably secure (secret), then there is a trade secret. Trade secrets can be sold for business or bad employee theft. Maybe a former employee did not sign a confidentiality statement before going to work for the competition. Some software engineers also reverse to get the source code. This heavily guarded source code for computers is their trade secret, gives them an advantage over the competition. The trick is that you have to keep their trade secrets as such secrets.
Copyright
Copyright protects all types of writing the singers, writers, programmers, artists, etc. .. These are the best known of all intellectual property. Register with the U.S. Copyright can improve the automatic protection. You must have your copyright material on paper, tape, or computer. Copyright protection applies to the "literal expression." It protects the "base" is the theme of writing. There should be a little creativity. You can not copyright a simple list. It does not really have a copyright notice from March 1, 1989. The announcement was recommended is called "copyright" author of the year. For example, this article is copyrighted. Copyright 2005 Stuart Simpson. But it is not necessary.
Brands
Trademarks must be a unique name, design, symbol, logo, color, container, etc. .. that companies use to distinguish their products from others in the same market. You must have a name for a brand, as common words receive the least protection. Like Stuart cold ice cream company. My name and the descriptive term (cold) are weak marks. But a distinctive name, like Netflix, is a strong brand. Netflix is technically a "service" brand. It falls into the same category as trademarks. Your brand must be submitted to the U.S. Patent Office and Trademark Office (PTO). But first, the mark must be put into use "in commerce that Congress can regulate." This means that you have to sell to another state or a company that caters to interstate or international travelers. After doing this, you may have another way to show the mark is actually used. The controls for the PTO similar mark. You can 't use the ® symbol yet. You can only use this if your logo or trademark has been registered.
Patents
The law of patents gives new and special inventor the right to use this invention for a fixed period of time. U.S. PatentTrademark Office (PTO) must determine that the invention qualifies for patent protection. Your invention must be new and novel, not obvious. What is a patent? Normally, the inventors to obtain a license agreement with a company to produce the product for a period of time. Instead, the company pays royalties inventor of each item sold.
Intellectual property goes beyond the depth at each of these elements. I wanted to give a brief description to help expand your knowledge base to write, create or invent. If your work falls into one of the above categories, do more research. I will write in each specific area in the future.
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
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