Sem 1 Week 7

Question 1

What is intellectual Property?

Answer 1

A category of intangible rights protecting commercially valuable products of the human intellect.

Question 2

What can you not do if you don’t protect your intellectual property?

Answer 2

Safely disclose it
Profit from it
Defend it

Question 3

Why should you bother about IP?

Answer 3

-It protects you against infringement
-Counterfeiters produce fake goods
-Pirates produce copies without your permission
-Both can ruin your business reputation or lose you money
-If infringed, it is you who needs to take action.

Question 4

What are the main types of intellectual property?

Answer 4

-Copyright
-Trademark
-Designs
-Patents

Question 5

What does copyright do?

Answer 5

Protects creative or artistic works (the expression of the idea, but not the idea itself)

Question 6

What types of things does copyright apply to?

Answer 6

-literature (novels, instruction manuals, computer programs, song lyrics etc)
-Drama
-Music
-Art
-Layouts
-Recordings
-Broadcasts

Question 7

What does a trademark apply to?

Answer 7

Applies to any sign or symbol that allows your customers to distinguish you from your competitors.

Question 8

What can be trademarked?

Answer 8

-Name
-Slogan
-Logo
-Domain name
-Shape
-Colour
-Sound

Question 9

What must trademarks be ?

Answer 9

Distinctive for the goods and services you provide
Not deceptive or contrary to law or morality

Question 10

What do designs mean in terms of intellectual property?

Answer 10

Gives you monopoly right for the look of a product, protecting both the shape and the pattern or decoration

Question 11

What is the criteria for a design being intellectual property?

Answer 11

The design must be new and have individual character and “it should not remind an informed person of an existing design”.

Question 12

What do designs rights mean?

Answer 12

-Free automatic protection in the UK
-Covers the internal or external shape or configuration of the product
-Does not stop copying of any two-dimensional aspects
-10 years from marketing product design or 15 years from creation of design
-5 years full protection then others can start making it

Question 13

What does a patent protect?

Answer 13

A patent protects the form and functionality of any new invention and the process by which this is made

Question 14

What does having a patent prevent?

Answer 14

Prevents others from making, using, importing or selling the invention without the owner’s permission

Question 15

What does a patent need to be?

Answer 15

-New
-Inventive
-Makeable or useable in industry

Question 16

What must a patent not be?

Answer 16

-a scientific or mathematical discovery, theory or method
-a literary, dramatic, musical, or artistic work
-a way of performing a mental act, playing a game, or doing business
-the presentation of information, or some computer programs
-an animal or plant variety
Method of medical treatment or diagnosis
-against public policy or morality.

Question 17

What do you have to do to file a patent?

Answer 17

-Pay £310
-Get a patent attorney
-Register (takes 3-4 years)
-Need to renew the patent every year for 20 years

Question 18

What is the process for getting a patent

Answer 18

File
Application
* Fill in Form 1
* Contains - Written Description / Claims / Abstract
* Filing date receipt issued
Search
* Fill in Form 9A (PAY)
* Request for search – initial examination of formalrequirements
* Usually within 12 months of filing – or applicationterminated
“A”
Publication
* IPO publishes patent application
* 18 months after filingdate
* Patent details are nowvisible
Examination
* Fill in Form 10 (PAY)
* Requests ‘a substantive examination’
* Must be within 6 months of “A” publication – or applicationterminated
Grant
* IPO identifies what (if anything) must be amended
* Set period to respond
* Assuming requirements of the Patents Act 1977 are met – Patent isgranted
“B”
Publication
* Final Patent published
* Certificate sent

Question 19

How do you obtain a valid Patent Protection?

Answer 19

-Do record it / write it down
-Do think how it can be put into practice
-Don’t tell anyone who does not have an implied or actual duty of
confidence
-Don’t publish it on the web, magazine etc…
-Do search the patent database
-To check your ideas are new
-To check you aren’t straying onto someone’s
monopoly

Question 20

What is a public disclosure?

Answer 20

• Virtually any disclosure of
  information made to a party outside
  your organisation without
  appropriate confidentiality provisions
  will constitute a public disclosure
• Information in the public domain
  cannot be protected
• The ability to protect the
  underlying intellectual property may
  be compromised (e.g. patent filing)
• Competitors may benefit from your
  organisation’s hard work

Question 21

What are examples of public disclosures?

Answer 21

✓ Theses (can be embargoed)
✓ Academic publications
✓ Pre-publications/abstracts
✓ Oral/poster presentations
✓ Group/personal websites
✓ Internal/external (e.g. University Research Day)
✓ Public demonstration of a prototype
✓ Trials involving non-staff subjects
✓ Blogs, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube etc…

Question 22

How can you mitigate the risks of public disclosure?

Answer 22

✓ Mark confidential information as such
✓ Impose appropriate confidentiality provisions in contracts and
during meetings with third parties
✓ Limit the number of parties to whom confidential information is
disclosed
✓ Limit the detail of confidential information disclosed to
employees and third parties