Whether you're an Edison, Faulkner or Gates, you need Patent, Copyright & Trademark. Intellectual property law has rapidly produced its own language. But don't count on understanding it right off the bat -- the language baffles lawyers and lay folk alike. Whether you're an inventor, designer, writer or programmer, you need to understand the language of intellectual property law to intelligently deal with such issues as: who owns creative works or valuable information how these owners can protect and enforce their ownership rights how disputes between intellectual-property owners can be resolved how ownership rights can best be transferred to others and many more With this essential guide, you will: get clear and concise overviews of patent copyright, trademark and trade secret law understand the different kinds of protection offered by patents, copyrights, trademarks and trade secrets -- and which apply to your work get a plain-English definition of every term you're likely to come across find the information you need, quickly and easily -- all entries are organized by topic and extensively cross-referenced Exhaustively updated, the 7th edition provides expanded information on the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, Madrid Protocol, Open Source, and Copy Left movements, as well as the latest law and court decisions that affect how you protect your intellectual property.

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In simple terms, intellectual property is a product of the human intellect that has commercial value. Intellectual property encompasses a wide range of creations -- from fiction, poetry, songs, designs and artwork to ads, product names, mechanical inventions, processes, chemical formulas, machines and software. The commercial value of intellectual property comes from the ability of its owner to control its use. If the owner could not legally require payment in exchange for use, ownership of the intellectual property would have intellectual worth but no commercial value. EXAMPLE 1: Jayna writes a novel about romance in cyberspace. As the author/owner, she has the legal right to prevent others from reprinting the book, making a movie or creating a television miniseries based on the novel. It is this right that can produce revenue for Jayna: she can sell publishing rights to a publisher, movie rights to a movie producer and television rights to a network in exchange for royalties based on book, movie and TV proceeds. EXAMPLE 2: Todd invents a process for inserting modified genes into cancer cells. He applies for and receives a patent, a monopoly awarded by the federal government that allows Todd to require anyone who wants to use the process to pay him a negotiated license fee. If no one wants to use the process, Todd won't make any money (unless he uses it in his own gene therapy clinic). A. How Intellectual Property Law Works Intellectual property law is an umbrella term for all the statutes, government regulations and court decisions that together determine who owns intellectual property and what rights go along with that ownership. In addition, intellectual property law specifies: the conditions under which intellectual property rights may be sold or loaned (licensed) to others for specific purposes how to settle contract disputes that arise from marketing intellectual property, and how to take advantage of government procedures and programs that establish or enhance protection of intellectual property rights. Intellectual property law primarily offers protection to the owner of intellectual property by giving the owner the right to file a lawsuit asking a court to enforce whatever rights are being transgressed. As a result, some experts describe intellectual property laws as "affirmative rights" rather than as "protection." Noted patent attorney and author David Pressman suggests thinking of intellectual property laws as tools that can be used when needed, but not as any kind of defensive shield. In other words, intellectual property laws won't prevent someone from stepping on the owner's rights. But the laws do give an owner the ammunition to take a trespasser to court. For example, upon request of the copyright owner, a court will halt unauthorized copying of material protected by the copyright. But if the copyright owner does not sue the copier, no action will be taken and the copier will get away with this illegal behavior. 1. Types of intellectual property laws Intellectual property law consists of several discrete legal categories. Although these categories can overlap with respect to a particular intellectual property, they each have their own characteristics and terminology. Trade secret law affords the owner of commercial information that provides a competitive edge the right to keep others from using such information if the information was improperly disclosed to or acquired by a competitor and the owner of the information took reasonable precautions to keep it secret.

 

Introduction PART 1: Trade Secret Law Overview Definitions Statutes PART 2: Copyright Law Overview Definitions Sample Forms Statutes PART 3: Patent Law Overview Definitions Sample Forms Statutes PART 4: Trademark Law Overview Definitions Sample Forms Statutes

A clear overview of patent, copyright, trademark and trade secret law, with plain-English definitions of legal terms. You will also find the full text of important statutes

 

A good basic general text on the subject of intellectual property. As manufacturing companies in general, especially small to medium size companies, in the U.S., tend to be sloppy about protecting their intellectual property, this should be must reading for whoever is the corporate head bean counter.

 

Stephen R. Elias is an attorney and associate publisher at Nolo.com. He is the author of many Nolo titles, including: How to File for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy, Trademark: Legal Care For Your Business and Product Name, Legal Research: How to Find and Understand the Law, and Nolo's Pocket Guide to Family Law. Steve has been interviewed by most major media including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, Good Morning America, 20/20,Money Magazine and more. He received his law degree from Hastings College of Law and practiced law in California, New York and Vermont before joining Nolo in 1980. In recent years much of Steve's time at Nolo has been devoted to the fields of self-help legal software and online legal information. He is one of the original authors/designers of Nolo's bestselling WillMaker program, as well as the software version of Nolo's Patent It Yourself.