Patent Notes from Lecture Mr. Orler
Three main types of intellectual property
law:
1. Copyright - creative works
- a. Lasts the lifetime of the author plus
90 years.
- b. Covers the description, meaning or
expression of your idea
- c. Covered immediately upon creation in
a fixed, tangible medium
- d. Ex. Your presentation
- e. COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT:
- i. Substantially similar as a whole then
you are an infringer.
- ii. Who gets to decide if there is infringement?
- 1. A judge or a jury
- 2. The person who is the plaintiff
the person who made the original gets to decide whether
a jury or a judge decides.
2. Patents - inventions, processes, things
of use, business products (embodiment of ideas)
- a. Lasts 20 years from the date that you
file for a patent
- b. Provides a function it is used
- c. Protection for utility how it
is used
- d. Ex. Your inventions that have use
3. Trademarks how things look, source identifiers
- a. Lasts forever
- i. Must be in continuous use or it is
considered abandonment.
- ii. For example, aspirin.
- b. Covers how things look, ex. Starbuck's
logo
- c. Source identifiers helps you
identify a product all over the country so you know that the
items came from the same place.
4. Trade Secrets not used often
Public Domain
- Works that are not protected by copyright
- Free use without permission
- How are items put into the public domain?
o Can originally be copyrightable
o Expired copyright
o Authored by the Federal Government
o Specifically in the public domain
Fair Use
- What is copyright?
- An exception to the exclusive rights of
copyright holder
- How can it be used?
- Persons in education (teachers and students
- How can the materials be used?
- Where can the materials be used?
- Educational institutions, "sticks
'n bricks"
- What triggers the exception?
- Purpose and character of use: commercial
OR educational
- Nature of the copyrighted works
- Amount and substantiality used (how much)
- Effect on market for, or value of, copyrighted
work
What can be used?
- 10% or 3 minutes, whichever is less, of
a motion picture clip
- 10% or 30 seconds, whichever is less,
or a musical work, whether audio or audiovisual
- No more than 5 images of a single artist
or photographer
- 10% or 1000 words, whichever is less,
of text materials
Web Citations
Author's name. Title of the page (underline if it is a full
work, or in quotations if it is an article or part of a larger
work). Date of publication. Publisher. Date you last visited the
site. URL in brackets ,.
Example. Internet
Scout Project, 1999. University
of Wisconsin Board of Regents. 3 Aug 1999. <http://scout.cs.wisc.edu>