Business Law-Intellectual Property

The last blog talked about Patents and Trademarks.  Before we move on, another comment about Trademarks.  The Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) has an extensive web site that allows the filing of a Trademark Application on line.  Before going through the process (which is somewhat self-explanatory), I urge folks to find out if the proposed name to be trademarked is actually available.  There are two companies: Thompson and Thompson, and Corsearch, which will conduct a national search to find out whether there are other uses of the proposed name. Please understand that actual use is the strongest trademark and you may trademark a name, only to find that it is already being used somewhere, thereby minimizing if not defeating your trademark.
Also, the ability to trademark and the strength of the trademark depends heavily on the "strength" of the name: is it unique, generic, merely descriptive, fanciful?  Has it acquired secondary meaning?  What does the name identify-product, category? The word "Apple" cannot be trademark to name a fruit, but it can be used to identify a computer.  It is a common name used in an uncommon way.  There are many "tricks" to trademarking, so before you go online to file an application, and spend the non-refundable fees, it is a good idea to better understand the world of trademarks.  We will move on the Copyrights, the Right of Publicity and Tradenames, next time.

Business Law-Intellectual Property

Intellectual Property takes many forms, but all have in common one idea: A legal monopoly to protect one's ideas. It may be a product, a brand, a picture, software or other forms, but each form allows the creator to protect that idea from copying and use by others.  So, what are the forms of Intellectual Property?  There are many. 
Patents generally are to protect a product, although they have been extended in recent years to ideas, such as computer software and business ideas.  Patent Law has just changed so the handling of patent applications will be modified.  The basic procedure is that an idea is submitted to the US Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) and goes through a process to determine the originality of the proposed item/idea.  Specialized lawyers, admitted to a specialized court, handles these matters.
Trademarks generally describe the name of something, and the goal is to associate the name with the product.  Over time there can be various products.  Others aren't prohibited from producing the product, say tennis shoes, but can be prohibited from calling their tennis shoes, Nike.
Next time we will discuss other examples of Intellectual Property.