Explaining Trademark, Copyright And Patent Issues

June 6, 2008 – 11:33 pm
by Rex Stevenson

The States Patent and Trademark Office registers what is called trademark. The term trademark actually means an image, device, or a word which identifies itself with a product made by a certain company. Each company has a unique trademark.

Copyright is a way of protecting both unpublished and published literary, artistic and scientific works, and any forms of expressions as long as it is tangible. It means you can touch it, hear it, or see it. An essay, a play, a song, funky original choreography, HTML coding, or graphics can be protected. Laws of copyright grant the creator’s exclusive rights to distribute, display, perform, reproduce, and prepare derivative works publicly.

A patent is another form of IP (intellectual property). The right of a patent in the United States is granted by the USPTO (United States Patent and Trademark Office) to the inventors. This is to prevent others from using, making, selling, importing, or offering sales of such invention over a limited period of time. The law concerning the United States patent is stated in the Patent Act, 35 U.S.C. The act contains clarifications on using jargons resolving some confusion and complexity.

Some things cannot be patented like, for example, when you discover a nature law; the gravity, it’s for everybody’s use because it’s a thing that represents our environment, which is without charge. Any physics law or idea will not be patented. This also applies to offensive content and inventions that are not practical. However, any form of creativity or artistic ideas, can and will be patented to ensure their originality.

The patent law is created to serve various purposes. It is found in the U.S. Constitution, Clause 8 of Section 8 of Article I stating the power of the Congress to support the advancement of useful arts and science by giving exclusive rights to inventors and authors on their discoveries and writings over a limited period of time. Thus, a patent system was created by the Congress to reward limited monopolies to the inventors on making, selling, and using their inventions.

Any invention has the right to be displayed to public; however, it will not be copied or distributed without the owner’s permission. If you want to patent an invention, you have to make sure before applying, that you have a well described usage and it fits the standard criteria.

Although abstract ideas or processes that involve the nature cannot be patented, when it comes to software that uses nature laws, it can be patented because it’s part of an original program. Although mathematic discoveries cannot be patented, programs which use mathematic laws can be patented, as long as they are original and useful. The law for software protection has been accepted in 1981 by the Supreme Court.

Obtaining a patent protection for your invention is impossible if your invention isn’t useful or new, also, inventions that are obvious will fail to obtain protection. You shouldn’t distribute or sell your invention before applying for protection because you will lose your rights. Also, if someone invents something in a part of the world and another person invents the same thing in another part, it can be very hard for both to obtain patent rights.

The patent claims are described as follows: a preamble (an introduction part), the steps for its implementation, and the main part which refers to its rights of not being copied, distributed, or sold by anyone except the owner.

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Find more free resources on business trademarks and patents and ways to protect yourself and your business at http://trademark.tips-and-guides.com.

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