13. Intellectual Property Flashcards
What is intellectual property?
An umbrella term for a set of intangible (non-physical) assets owned and legally protected by a company or individual from outside use or implementation without consent.
Give 7 examples of intellectual property
Creations of the mind such as:
- Inventions
- Literary works
- Artistic works
- Designs
- Symbols
- Names
- Images
Intellectual property is protected by _______ rights, meaning there is the right to block someone from using it but not the right to commercialise it yourself.
Negative
What are the two types of IP rights? Why are they different?
Registered rights: paid for
Unregistered rights: pre-existing rights
Give 4 examples of registered rights
- Technology: patents and utility models
- Appearance: design registrations
- Branding: trade mark registrations
- Other: plant breeders rights
Give 4 examples of unregistered rights
- Technology: trade secrets and confidential information
- Appearance: design rights and unfair competition
- Branding: passing off (UK) and unfair competition
- Other: copyright, database rights, trade secrets
What is a patent?
A ‘deal’ with the state that gives a company a monopoly right lasting up to 20 years from filing.
What is required of a company when filing a patent?
- Disclosure of sufficient information to enable a skilled person to reproduce the invention
- An application for each country it wants a patent in
- To pay fees
- To persuade the patent office in each country that the invention and patent application meet all its requirements
What are the benefits of patents to for the state?
- Knowledge is disseminated (they are told how the invention works)
- Innovation is encouraged (competitors are encouraged to innovate in their country)
What are the requirements of patents?
- To be new and secret (not known to the public)
- To be inventive
- To be in a field of ‘technology’ (so excludes mathematical methods, software, business methods, and presentations of information)
- Must be capable of being made or used
- Musn’t be a method of treatment by surgery or therapy (in some countries)
- Musn’t be contrary to morality
What sections must be included in a patent document?
- Inventors
- Designated regions
- Title, abstract and illustrative figure
- Technical field
- Background
- Summary of the invention
- Brief description of the drawings
- Detailed description
- Claims
What is a claim?
The scope of protection for a patented idea. It should be as broad as possible whilst still being a novel and inventive creation.
What are the two types of claims?
Independent and dependent claims.
Define independent claim
A stand-alone claim that includes the minimum number of features/steps required for the invention.
Define dependent claim
A claim that ‘depends’ on one or more earlier claims. It includes the features/steps of the preceding claims whilst adding additional ‘fallback’ features or steps.
