Chapter 14: Intellectual Property Flashcards
trademark
a commercial symbol that a manufacturer prints on its goods so they can be readily identified in the marketplace
trademark revision act
- Nationwide notice of the trademark owner’s claim
- Legal presumption of registrant’s ownership of the mark in the event of a dispute
- Fed court jurisdiction, if desired
- forming the basis for obtaining registration in other nations
- Filing the registration w US Customs Service to help prevent importation of foreign goods that infringe on trademark
Lanham Act - common law
as long as the owner continues to use and protect the trademark, trademark’ exclusive use can be perpetual
registration
- can be done online
- payment of fee, submission of a copy of the mark, called a specimen, a description of the goods, declaration that the mark does not conflict with other marks.
- an examiner will review the request to make sure the mark does not conflict, not descriptive, not claim too much coverage
- god for 10 years
classifications of trademark
- arbitrary and fanciful
- suggestive
- descriptive
- generic( no longer trademark)
arbitrary and fanciful
- most favored by court
- inherentlly distinctive (fanciful) like mad up name
- arbitrary: name not related to product
suggestive
- marks hint at the product
descriptive
- not favored by law
- must be shown to have acquired customer recognition to be allowed protection
generic
- common words
- do not refer to products from a specific producer
infringement
- a seller causes confusion abt the origins of a product by improper use of a trademark
- Lanham Act allows suit for infringement
dilution
use name for different line of product but cause consumers to think that original company has gotten into other product lines
cybersquatting
occurs when trademark is used improperly in a domain name
defenses for trademark fraud
- fair use, such as to mention a mark in comparative advertising
- non-commercial use
- news reporting or educational use
counterfeiting
- the copying or imitating of mark w/o authority to do so
- usually means passing off goods as if they were original
private enforcement
- Lanham Act allows private parties to obtain search-and-seize orders to grab counterfeit goods.
trade dress
concern the look and feel of products and service establishments. This includes size, shape, color, texture, graphics, and even certain sales techniques of products
service marks
apply to services such as advertising, insurance, hotels, restaurants, and entertainment
certification mark
any word, symbol, device, or combination of these that is used, intended to be used, in commerce to certify regional or other geographical origin
collective mark
indicates membership in a union, association or org
trade name
name of company or business
- cant register under Lanham act but protected by common law.
goodwill
reputation of a firm that gives value to trademarks and other form o intellectual property.
copyrights
rights of literary property as recognized by law
- terms of the life of author plus 70 years
- works for hire as material written by employees of company, copyright is 95 years from the date of publication
The copyright act
- right to reproduce the work
- right to publish or distribute work
- right to display work in public
- right to perform work in public
- right to prepare derivative works based on original work
moral right
the right of author to have proper attribution of authorship and to prevent unauthorized changes in or destruction of an artist’s work
copyright registration
fill out an online registration form from the copyright office, send 2 copies of the copyrighted work, pay $35
- no checking
fair use
for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, schorlaship, research.
elements of fair use
- purpose and character of copying
- nature of copyrighted work
- extent of copying
- effect of the copying on the market for the work
patent
the right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale or selling the invention for 20 years after the inventor files a patent application.
- originality and novelty
- 18 months after patent application is made, it is made public. -> use trade secrets
invention cannot be patented if
- invention was known or used by others before
- invention was patented or described in a printed publication more than 1 year prior to the application for patent in US
trade secret
consist of formula, pattern, device, compilation or information which is used in one’s business
- not known by competition
- business would lose its advantage if competition were to obtain it
- the owner has taken reasonable steps to protect the secret from disclosure
