Inventor Information
(it is not legal advice, consult legal practitioner for your specific situation)
The United States of America has several law areas for protection of INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY . The federal law governs patents, copyrights, trademarks, and unfair competition. The state laws govern trade secrets, unfair competition, undeveloped ideas, and the right to publicity.
TRADE SECRETS protect a formula, pattern, device or compilation of information used in oneпїЅs business and give him/her an opportunity to obtain advantages over competitors. The trade secret rights may be lost, unless the owner (claimant) demonstrates substantial efforts in keeping them in secret. For example, if itпїЅs easy to learn the information by reverse engineering, it may not qualify as a trade secret.
COPYRIGHTS basically cover the following categories: literary works; pictorial, graphical and sculptural works, sound recordings, architectural works, some other narrow specific works. Copyright protection is limited to particular means of expressing ideas and does not give monopoly rights in the underlying ideas themselves. It does not extend to ideas, procedures, processes, systems, methods of operation, concepts, principles, discoveries, regardless of the form in which they are described, explained, illustrated or embodied. The copyright law gives authors, artists, composers, programmers the right to prevent others from copying their works without their permission.
TRADEMARK LAW covers trademarks (words, titles, short phrases, drawings, logos, some other art works, names, symbols, etc.) to identify and distinguish the goods of a manufacturer, and to indicate the source of goods; service marks (similar for services versus goods); certification marks (to certify that the words, names, symbols, etc. have certain characteristics); collective marks (e.g. used by members of an organization to identify their membership). The law gives the owner an offensive right to prevent others from using the subject of protection.
UNFAIR COMPETITION LAW primarily covers improper behavior of a business affecting and damaging the reputation and good will of another business.
PATENT LAW protects inventions. In order to get the protection the inventor must file a patent application in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (U.S. PTO), and obtain a patent granting a monopoly on U.S. production, sale, commercial exploitation, use and importing to the U.S. of the invention, typically for twenty years from the date of filing of the patent application (for utility and plant patents), or for fourteen years from the issue date (for design patents). Such a monopoly gives the patent owner the right to exclude others from the mentioned activities as to the invention. The right may be exercised by filing an infringement lawsuit in federal court against the infringer, i.e. the person or corporation manufacturing, selling, using, or importing to the U.S. the invention without a permission of the patent owner.
The basic types of U.S. patent applications are:
a) Nonprovisional Utility Application (regular application) as a rule has to include a specification, claim(s), drawings, government filing fee, and some other documents needed for filing, and is examined by the U.S. PTO. If the Application is allowed it will issue into patent, if it is rejected the applicant has an opportunity to correct it or persuade the examiner to allow it. If it is finally rejected the applicant may file a request for continuing examination, a continuing application, or may abandon the application. Filing of Nonprovisional gives the applicant a priority filing date, so that he/she may negotiate a license to manufacture or distribute the invention or may sell it even before the patent is issued ('patent pending' status).
b) Provisional utility Application typically includes a specification, drawings, filing fee, other forms to be filed with the U.S. PTO. It holds the filing date as a priority date within 12 months, during which the applicant may file a nonprovisional application based on the provisional if he/she wishes to obtain a patent on the invention. Provisional is not examined, but also gives the applicant the 'patent-pending' status.
c) PCT International Stage Application typically includes a description, claim(s), drawings, forms necessary for filing, and filing fees.
d) PCT National Stage Application is filed after the International Stage of a PCT Application has been completed and the U.S. was designated. The filing requirements are almost similar to Nonprovisional.
e) Design Application. A U.S. patent may be granted for design if it's ornamental, novel, non-obvious, definite. Three kinds of design are: designs for ornament, impression, print or picture applied to an article; design for the shape or configuration of an article; a combination of those two.
The inventions to be protected by U.S. patents include asexually reproduced plants (by plant patents); the ornamental design of a nonfunctional feature of a tangible object (by design patents); the functional features of a machine (device), method (process), article of manufacture, or composition of matter (by utility patents).
For example, a computer program or software-related invention may be considered as a device or process (method) deploying a computer as an operative component of the device or process. Business methods could also be patented based on the decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in 1998. Such business methods may include: identifying potential business customers, their needs for products and services; advertisement methods; methods of money and credit exchange; tracking resources, insurance and billing transactions, securities trading operations, health care management, reservation systems, electronic shopping, business cryptography, auction systems, and the like.
The inventor (or his / her legal representative, that is a patent attorney or a patent agent), who wishes to obtain a patent, must convince the PTO examiner during the prosecution of said patent application that the invention is novel and non-obvious, as defined by the U.S. patent laws and rules.
The inventor should always keep in mind a simple rule of precaution: not to show the materials of invention to anybody without signing an agreement for non-disclosure of confidential information. The better way of dealing with your invention: first consult a patent practitioner registered with the U.S. PTO.
You may also want to study the laws briefly mentioned above using different government sources widely available to the public to better understand the rights to your intellectual property and determine the way of its protection.
If you are interested in the patent protection, please go to SUGGESTED STEPS and feel free to CONTACT US .
Good luck!
Sincerely,
Alex Smushkovich,
YOUR PATENT AGENT
The United States of America has several law areas for protection of INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY . The federal law governs patents, copyrights, trademarks, and unfair competition. The state laws govern trade secrets, unfair competition, undeveloped ideas, and the right to publicity.
TRADE SECRETS protect a formula, pattern, device or compilation of information used in oneпїЅs business and give him/her an opportunity to obtain advantages over competitors. The trade secret rights may be lost, unless the owner (claimant) demonstrates substantial efforts in keeping them in secret. For example, if itпїЅs easy to learn the information by reverse engineering, it may not qualify as a trade secret.
COPYRIGHTS basically cover the following categories: literary works; pictorial, graphical and sculptural works, sound recordings, architectural works, some other narrow specific works. Copyright protection is limited to particular means of expressing ideas and does not give monopoly rights in the underlying ideas themselves. It does not extend to ideas, procedures, processes, systems, methods of operation, concepts, principles, discoveries, regardless of the form in which they are described, explained, illustrated or embodied. The copyright law gives authors, artists, composers, programmers the right to prevent others from copying their works without their permission.
TRADEMARK LAW covers trademarks (words, titles, short phrases, drawings, logos, some other art works, names, symbols, etc.) to identify and distinguish the goods of a manufacturer, and to indicate the source of goods; service marks (similar for services versus goods); certification marks (to certify that the words, names, symbols, etc. have certain characteristics); collective marks (e.g. used by members of an organization to identify their membership). The law gives the owner an offensive right to prevent others from using the subject of protection.
UNFAIR COMPETITION LAW primarily covers improper behavior of a business affecting and damaging the reputation and good will of another business.
PATENT LAW protects inventions. In order to get the protection the inventor must file a patent application in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (U.S. PTO), and obtain a patent granting a monopoly on U.S. production, sale, commercial exploitation, use and importing to the U.S. of the invention, typically for twenty years from the date of filing of the patent application (for utility and plant patents), or for fourteen years from the issue date (for design patents). Such a monopoly gives the patent owner the right to exclude others from the mentioned activities as to the invention. The right may be exercised by filing an infringement lawsuit in federal court against the infringer, i.e. the person or corporation manufacturing, selling, using, or importing to the U.S. the invention without a permission of the patent owner.
The basic types of U.S. patent applications are:
a) Nonprovisional Utility Application (regular application) as a rule has to include a specification, claim(s), drawings, government filing fee, and some other documents needed for filing, and is examined by the U.S. PTO. If the Application is allowed it will issue into patent, if it is rejected the applicant has an opportunity to correct it or persuade the examiner to allow it. If it is finally rejected the applicant may file a request for continuing examination, a continuing application, or may abandon the application. Filing of Nonprovisional gives the applicant a priority filing date, so that he/she may negotiate a license to manufacture or distribute the invention or may sell it even before the patent is issued ('patent pending' status).
b) Provisional utility Application typically includes a specification, drawings, filing fee, other forms to be filed with the U.S. PTO. It holds the filing date as a priority date within 12 months, during which the applicant may file a nonprovisional application based on the provisional if he/she wishes to obtain a patent on the invention. Provisional is not examined, but also gives the applicant the 'patent-pending' status.
c) PCT International Stage Application typically includes a description, claim(s), drawings, forms necessary for filing, and filing fees.
d) PCT National Stage Application is filed after the International Stage of a PCT Application has been completed and the U.S. was designated. The filing requirements are almost similar to Nonprovisional.
e) Design Application. A U.S. patent may be granted for design if it's ornamental, novel, non-obvious, definite. Three kinds of design are: designs for ornament, impression, print or picture applied to an article; design for the shape or configuration of an article; a combination of those two.
The inventions to be protected by U.S. patents include asexually reproduced plants (by plant patents); the ornamental design of a nonfunctional feature of a tangible object (by design patents); the functional features of a machine (device), method (process), article of manufacture, or composition of matter (by utility patents).
For example, a computer program or software-related invention may be considered as a device or process (method) deploying a computer as an operative component of the device or process. Business methods could also be patented based on the decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in 1998. Such business methods may include: identifying potential business customers, their needs for products and services; advertisement methods; methods of money and credit exchange; tracking resources, insurance and billing transactions, securities trading operations, health care management, reservation systems, electronic shopping, business cryptography, auction systems, and the like.
The inventor (or his / her legal representative, that is a patent attorney or a patent agent), who wishes to obtain a patent, must convince the PTO examiner during the prosecution of said patent application that the invention is novel and non-obvious, as defined by the U.S. patent laws and rules.
The inventor should always keep in mind a simple rule of precaution: not to show the materials of invention to anybody without signing an agreement for non-disclosure of confidential information. The better way of dealing with your invention: first consult a patent practitioner registered with the U.S. PTO.
You may also want to study the laws briefly mentioned above using different government sources widely available to the public to better understand the rights to your intellectual property and determine the way of its protection.
If you are interested in the patent protection, please go to SUGGESTED STEPS and feel free to CONTACT US .
Good luck!
Sincerely,
Alex Smushkovich,
YOUR PATENT AGENT
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Legal counsel should be consulted as to any issues of a viewer's intellectual property rights. The owner does not assume any responsibility for the timeliness, deletion, failure to deliver,
store, update, or provide any content on the website. Information posted on the website may contain inaccuracies or typographical errors, may be updated or changed without notice.
Because of any changes of laws, the website information is not guaranteed to be accurate, complete, or current. The viewer understands that the content of this website is protected by U.S. and International copyrights. The viewer agrees not to reproduce, distribute, duplicate, retransmit, copy, sell, resell or exploit for any commercial
purposes, any portion of the website materials without a prior written permission of the owner. Notwithstanding the aforesaid, the owner grants the right to download website materials for personal non-commercial use.
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