Create. Sell. Bank! Intellectual Property 101-Kuuttila
Summary
TLDRAnneka Sola, a teaching assistant for the Krait cell bank class, delivers an insightful overview of intellectual property, covering patents, copyrights, trademarks, and trade secrets. She explains the types of patents, their requirements, and durations, highlighting the importance of utility, novelty, and non-obviousness. Copyrights are discussed in terms of their automatic protection and registration benefits. Trademarks are defined as identifiers of goods or services, with the advantages of federal registration detailed. Lastly, trade secrets are characterized as confidential business information that must remain secret to offer economic advantage, emphasizing the need for protection against unauthorized disclosure.
Takeaways
- 📝 Intellectual property (IP) includes patents, copyrights, trademarks, and trade secrets, each protecting different types of creations and innovations.
- 🔍 Patents are categorized into utility, design, and plant patents, with utility patents covering processes, machines, manufactures, and compositions of matter.
- 📆 The duration of a utility patent is 20 years from the filing date, while design patents last for 15 years from the date of issue, and plant patents also have a 20-year term from the filing date.
- 🚫 To be granted a patent, an invention must be useful, novel, and non-obvious, ensuring it has not been previously known or used and is not an obvious improvement.
- 📚 Copyrights protect original works of authorship once they are fixed in a tangible medium, such as books, music, or architectural plans.
- 🕰️ Copyright duration for individuals is the creator's lifetime plus 70 years, or 95 years from publication or 120 years from creation for anonymous or corporate works.
- 📜 Trademarks are symbols, logos, or phrases that distinguish the source of goods or services and can be registered with the USPTO for legal protection and exclusive use.
- 🔄 Trademark protection is indefinite as long as the mark is in use, unlike patents and copyrights which have fixed terms.
- 🤐 Trade secrets consist of confidential information that provides a business advantage, such as formulas or processes, and must be actively kept secret to maintain protection.
- 🔒 Trade secrets do not have an expiration date, offering ongoing protection as long as the information remains undisclosed and provides a competitive edge.
- ⚖️ Legal protection for IP is available through the USPTO, and maintaining the secrecy of trade secrets or registering patents and trademarks is crucial for enforcement.
Q & A
What is the main topic of Anneka Sola's presentation?
-Anneka Sola's presentation is primarily about intellectual property, covering its different types such as patents, copyrights, trademarks, and trade secrets.
What are the three types of patents mentioned in the presentation?
-The three types of patents mentioned are utility patents, design patents, and plant patents.
What does a utility patent protect?
-A utility patent protects an invention or idea, which can be a process, machine, manufacturer, or composition of matter.
How long does a utility patent last?
-A utility patent lasts for 20 years from the date the patent application was filed.
What are the key requirements for obtaining a patent?
-To obtain a patent, the invention must be useful, novel, and non-obvious.
What is the difference between a design patent and a utility patent?
-A design patent protects the ornamental characteristics of an article, while a utility patent protects the functional aspects of an invention.
What is a copyright and what does it protect?
-A copyright protects original works of authorship that are fixed in a tangible medium of expression, such as literary works, music, and architecture.
What is the general duration of a copyright for an individual?
-For an individual, the copyright lasts for their entire life plus an additional 70 years after their death.
What is a trademark and what does it represent?
-A trademark is a word, phrase, symbol, or design that identifies and distinguishes the source of goods or services of one party from those of others.
Why is it important to register a trademark with the US Patent and Trademark Office?
-Registering a trademark provides public notice of ownership, a legal presumption of ownership in case of infringement, and the exclusive right to use the mark in connection with the registered goods or services.
What is a trade secret and how is it protected?
-A trade secret is information unique to an individual or business that must remain secret to provide economic advantage over competitors. It is protected through non-disclosure agreements and legal action against unauthorized disclosure.
How long does the protection of a trade secret last?
-The protection of a trade secret lasts indefinitely until the secret is discovered or loses its secrecy.
Outlines
📝 Introduction to Intellectual Property
Anneka Sola introduces herself as the teaching assistant for a class on innovation, ecommerce, and idea pitching. She outlines the purpose of the video to provide an overview of intellectual property, covering patents, copyrights, trademarks, and trade secrets. She emphasizes the importance of the USPTO website for further information and begins with a detailed explanation of patents, including utility, design, and plant patents, and their respective durations and requirements.
🔍 Deep Dive into Patent Requirements
The second paragraph delves into the three criteria that must be met for an invention to be patentable: it must be useful, novel, and non-obvious. Anneka explains that an invention does not need to be fully realized to be useful, and it must not have been previously known or used. She also stresses the importance of not disclosing the invention publicly before beginning the patent process to maintain its novelty.
📚 Copyright Protection and Its Duration
In this paragraph, Anneka discusses copyrights, which protect original works of authorship once they are fixed in a tangible medium. She explains the broad range of works that can be copyrighted, including literary works, music, and architecture. She also details the duration of copyright protection, which has been extended by recent legislation, and distinguishes between individual and corporate copyrights. Anneka advises registering copyrights with the Copyright Office for business purposes, even though it is not mandatory.
™ Trademarks: Identity and Distinction in Business
Anneka explains trademarks as words, phrases, symbols, or designs that distinguish the goods or services of one party from others. She provides examples of well-known trademarks and discusses the benefits of federal registration, such as public notice and legal presumption of ownership. She also clarifies that while registration is not mandatory, it offers significant advantages. Anneka notes the importance of using the appropriate trademark symbols and the need for ongoing use to maintain trademark validity.
🔐 Trade Secrets: The Importance of Secrecy
The final paragraph focuses on trade secrets, which are unique business information that must remain confidential to provide a competitive advantage. Anneka describes what can constitute a trade secret and the importance of using non-disclosure agreements to protect them. She mentions the famous Coca-Cola vs. Pepsi case to illustrate the significance of trade secret protection. Anneka warns that if a trade secret is disclosed or independently discovered, its protection is lost, highlighting the indefinite nature of trade secret protection as long as secrecy is maintained.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Intellectual Property
💡Patents
💡Utility Patents
💡Design Patents
💡Plant Patents
💡Copyrights
💡Trademarks
💡Trade Secrets
💡Public Domain
💡Non-Obvious
💡Infringement
Highlights
Introduction to the four main types of intellectual property: patents, copyrights, trademarks, and trade secrets.
Explanation of patents, including utility patents, design patents, and plant patents, and their respective categories and durations.
Utility patents protect processes, machines, manufacturers, and the composition of matter, with a 20-year life from the filing date.
Design patents protect the ornamental characteristics of a design, with a 15-year life from the date of issue for applications filed after 2015.
Plant patents cover newly discovered living plant organisms, with a 20-year life from the filing date.
Three requirements for patents: usefulness, novelty, and non-obviousness.
Copyrights protect original works of authorship, with terms based on the life of the author plus 70 years or 95 years from publication for corporate works.
Copyrights are secured automatically upon creation, but registration with the Copyright Office is recommended for legal protection.
Trademarks identify and distinguish the source of goods or services, with indefinite protection as long as in use.
Advantages of federal trademark registration include public notice, legal presumption of ownership, and exclusive rights.
Use of trademark symbols (™, ℠, ®) to indicate registration status or pending prosecution.
Trade secrets consist of unique, secret information used in business to gain an economic advantage, with protection lasting until discovery.
Importance of maintaining secrecy for trade secrets and the consequences of unauthorized disclosure.
The Coca-Cola vs. Pepsi lawsuit as an example of trade secret protection and the risks of disclosure.
The presenter's credentials as a registered patent agent and offer to answer questions.
The USPTO website (www.uspto.gov) as a resource for more information on intellectual property.
The importance of not disclosing patentable ideas before starting the patent process to maintain novelty.
The distinction between patents, copyrights, trademarks, and trade secrets in terms of what they protect and their duration.
Transcripts
hello everyone my name is anneka sola
i'm the teaching assistant for the Krait
cell bank class that teaches innovation
ecommerce and idea pitching and i'm here
today to talk to you about intellectual
property and to just kind of give you a
one-on-one overview of the different
types so again as I mentioned what we'll
be going over today is the four
different types of intellectual property
so this includes patents copyrights
trademarks and trade secrets and I'll be
going through each one in a little bit
of detail so before I get started I just
want to mention that all the information
that I'm presenting in this PowerPoint
can be found on the USPTO website the US
Patent and Trademark Office which is WW
uspto.gov so we'll start with patents so
patents essentially protect an idea that
you may have a new type of invention
there are three types of patents
the first is utility patents the second
design patents and the third is planned
patents
I'm going to go through each one of
these a little bit in greater depth so
just to describe what can be classified
are under each one so the first utility
patents there are four categories that
fall under this so a process which is a
you know process act or method of doing
or making something so this includes a
lot of industrial or technical processes
the second category is a machine so this
is any type of machine it can be a
computer a clock you know anything that
you know functions in a certain way um
the third category is a manufacturer so
this is anything that is made this
includes a table a chair a bed frame
anything essentially that you can
manufacture and the fourth is the
composition of matter so this is a new
chemical composition or a mixture of
ingredients or a new chemical compound
so this can include you know new
formulations for so for shampoo and it
up counsel include you know
pharmaceuticals or new types of drugs
things like that and the life of a
patent for utility patents is 20 years
from the date on which the application
for the patent was filed and this is
important
so patents they typically take about a
couple years with the US Patent and
Trademark Office corresponding with the
either the attorneys or the inventors
that directly themselves through the
form of office actions and from the
initial filing date that is actually
when the 20 year clock for the life of
the patent starts it's not when the
pattern actually issues which is a
common misconception and this is
important to remember because once those
once that time frame is up the patent or
the idea is out in the public domain so
it can be used by anyone however it
cannot be claimed solely by anyone else
to exclude anybody else from using it
I'll move on to design patents so design
patents essentially protect the way an
article looks so it's the ornamental
characteristics of a design so it can be
you know a new design for a lamp or a
wall hanging or in the case of an iPhone
the rounded corners and the flat screen
those constitute design patents and a
lot of manufactured items which is one
of the categories of utility patents
they possess both functional and
ornamental characteristics you know such
as a chair the way it looks a table the
same thing both utility and design
patents may be required to fully protect
the invention and again this is
something that you know it's important
to talk with an attorney about or
somebody who is qualified in this area
to really determine what would be the
best level of coverage for your
invention um in terms of design patents
the life is 15 years from the date of
issue and this is applications filed
after 2015 so anything you know as of
now if you follow for a design patent as
soon as the issues it's alive for 15
years and you're able to use it the
third type of patent is a little bit
smaller category but it's still there
and still worth mentioning and it's
plant patents so there's a couple
different things that fall under this
essentially it has to be a newly
discovered living organism living plant
organism which can be duplicated through
asexual reproduction but cannot
otherwise be made or manufactured so
this can be cultivated plants of a lot
of different varieties
it's mutants or transform plants and
it's important to note that algae and
fungi are considered plants under this
the bacteria are not and the life of the
plant patent is twenty years from the
date on which the application was filed
so it's similar to the utility patent so
as soon as that application is filed
that is when the life of a plant patent
is started so all these types of patents
have to fulfill three requirements if
they're to be issued before the US
Patent and Trademark Office the first is
it has to be useful so essentially the
subject matter has to have a useful
purpose and it has to serve its intended
purpose each of these categories is
broad on purpose because there are so
many different types of things that can
fall under this but essentially what
this requirement means is that if you
claim that your invention does something
you just have to make sure that it
actually does that it's not necessarily
that you have to completely reduce it to
practice you don't have to completely
you know develop a working prototype and
you know have it implemented in systems
you just have to be able to prove in
theory that your invention works so for
example a perpetual motion machine you
know wouldn't be patentable because you
would not be able to prove that it
actually would work so the second
category is that the patent has to be
novel so this essentially means that it
can't have been known or used patented
publish described publicly or on sale
before you patent so it's really
important that if you want to get a
patent on your idea you make sure that
you don't publish anything it whether
that's in an online journal article or
you know in a presentation that you're
giving whether it's at school or
whatever else or offered it for sale so
you want to make sure that you start at
least start the patent process before
you disclose publicly and if you don't
there's circumstances to where you can
still get a patent but it's important to
you know very very soon after you
disclose to either talk to an attorney
or look into the patenting process it's
important to mention under this category
that you can make improvements to
another invention as long as it is not
obvious to make those improvements the
third category is
it's not it has to be non-obvious so
essentially what this means is that it
has to have a sufficient difference but
from what has been used or described
before so if you're coming up with a new
composition for you know conditioned
hair conditioner it has to be
sufficiently different it has to have a
sufficient benefit or you know it's
cheaper it works better it you know uses
a new compound it has to be sufficiently
different in that a person having
ordinary skill in the area of your
technology or your idea related to the
invention would not find it obvious to
make the change so it has to have that
inventive step in there that's really
all that is required for these so in
order to get a patent to recap you have
to fulfill all of these three
requirements so moving right along to
copyrights so this is the second type of
intellectual property and essentially
what copyrights do is they protect
original works of authorship fixed in a
tangible medium of expression so there's
a lot of different things that can fall
under this it can be you know books in
the form of literary works poetry novels
things like that it can be architecture
so in the form of design of buildings or
it can be you know music so the the main
requirement is that it just has to be
fixed in a medium so whether that's you
know song being recorded or written down
on a piece of paper whether that's you
know a poem being written down it
doesn't necessarily have to be published
it just has to be you know recorded or
architecture just at least the design
plans you know written out and you know
able to be viewed so there's a lot of
different things that can fall under
this um and basically the manner and
medium of fixation are unlimited so it
can be words numbers know it sounds
pictures there any other graphic or
symbolic media it doesn't really matter
it just has to be implemented in some
way that it can prove that you you know
have come up with this on your own and
again you don't have to publish anything
to have a copyright as soon as you you
know write something down or type
something up or you know create
something take a picture is copy
right then and there you don't
necessarily have to do anything else to
it the life of a copyright there's been
new legislation that's been passed in
the last couple of years and now the
terms of the copyright for an individual
so let's say you yourself have come up
with something would say you know it's a
poem you've written that poem would be
copyright to you for the for your entire
life plus seven years after that so it's
a pretty long period of time to where
you solely own that copyright and nobody
else can use it without your permission
if the copyright was developed
anonymously or for hire so this applies
to businesses or corporations it is 95
years from the date of publication of
the you know media or 120 years from the
date of creation whichever is shorter so
this it's it's funny there's a special
circumstance with Disney's Mickey Mouse
that's actually the reason for a lot of
the recent legislation on copyright laws
because it's been very difficult for a
lot of people to you know have the idea
of having Mickey Mouse out in the public
domain so this these new laws have
actually extended to where you know
Mickey Mouse is not in the public domain
it is still protected by Disney even
though it was invented in the 1920s by
Walt Disney but some other examples are
William Shakespeare's works which were
in the 1600s those are out in the public
domain now and the works of Mozart in
terms of his music hit both his recorded
music and you know what he wrote down on
paper those are out in the public domain
again once something is in the public
domain nobody else can exclude others
from using it but anybody is free to use
it from their own mount so again you
don't need to register your work with
the Copyright Office to claim copyright
it's secured automatically when you
create the work when you write something
down when you you know compose a song
and you record it or you write it down
on a piano sheet music um and again an
example could be you know a song can be
fixed in sheet music on a CD or both it
doesn't really
how you record anything it just has to
be recorded in some way um even though
it's not required it's recommended to
register with the Copyright Office if
you are going to be using it for
business purposes um just for the
following reasons it creates a public
record of your claim to the copyrights
so there's no question about you know
that it is your copyright you came up
with it you are the author of that and
if there's in cases of infringement if
somebody else is using your copyright
then you can you know pursue that and
you have claims still to your work and
it establishes the validity of the
copyright if there is any ever any
question about it so we're moving right
along to trademarks so a trademark is a
word phrase symbol and/or design that
identifies and distinguishes the source
of goods of one party from those of the
others and another way of saying this is
a service farm and essentially it just
it's the same thing before a service and
this is brand name slogans and logos but
we encompass both of these into the word
trademark because you know we just
broaden it out and say that everything
and goods and services are a trademark
so below is an example of a number of
different trademarks in terms of logos
so the Nike swoosh you know that's a
that's a trademark the Google logo
McDonald's has a trademark on their logo
basically anything that can be used to
identify the trademark in and it
identifies it and distinguishes it so
registration of trademarks again is not
mandatory but federal registration of a
trademark with the US Patent and
Trademark Office has several advantages
so there is again a public notice that
you own the trademark nobody else can
claimed it claim it there's a legal
presumption of ownership in case there
is any infringement or anything and you
have the exclusive right to use the mark
on or in connection with the goods and
services set forth in the registration
so you are the sole owner of the
trademark you are the only one that can
claim you know the purpose is that it
excludes others from using the length of
the trademark is indefinite
as long as the markets in use so that's
very important you can't just get a
trademark on something and not really
pursue the business afterwards if you
are using it for a business it won't it
won't stay valid after that and again
you know as with patents and copyrights
you do have to file specific documents
and pay certain fees at regular
intervals and all of that information
can be found on the US Patent and
Trademark Office website they have a
very clear schedule of fees that are due
and the amounts if you're an individual
those fees are very low just because you
know the US Patent and Trademark Office
wants to encourage inventor ship in
entrepreneurship so again each time you
use your trademark it's important to use
a designation with it so if you if you
have registered with the US Patent and
Trademark Office you can use the AR with
the circle around it symbol that just
means registered trademark if you don't
have it registered or if it's not yet
registered it's in prosecution stone you
can use the TM with a circle around it
symbol for goods or you can use SM for
services or you can just use TM for
services - it doesn't really matter um
and again sometimes in the use of a
business name so let's say you are
filing for an LLC and you get an LLC
registered on your business name that
doesn't necessarily qualify you for a
trademark on that same name you still
have to if you want to register your
trademark you still have to do that with
the US Patent and Trademark Office and
again if you use you know if the
business name is associated with you
know distinguishing yourself from other
competitors and if you use it in that
certain way it can be considered a
trademark if you use it to identify the
types of goods and services that you
provide it can be so if you develop a
logo that can be a trademark it really
just you know has to in some way
identify the purpose of your business so
living right along to the fourth type of
intellectual property which is trade
secrets so trade secrets are a little
bit harder to define because there's
they're not public and this is on
purpose
so trade secrets consist of information
that is unique to an individual or a
business and it must remain secret so
this can be anything from a formula a
recipe a pattern a program method a
process relief anything and everything
that you can think of um
trade secrets must be used in business
in order for them to be valid and they
must give an opportunity to obtain an
economic advantage other competitors who
don't know or use it so an example could
be the recipe for a really good
chocolate chip cookie recipe that could
be a trade secret it can use that for
your bakery business and what you would
have to do is be very careful about you
know not disclosing that to anybody
outside of your business and that would
have to be some sort of you know
documentation that your employees side
that they you know a nondisclosure
agreement essentially this was a pretty
famous case with coca-cola and Pepsi to
where coca-cola you know of course their
recipe for coca-cola is a trade secret
nobody really knows what it is and it's
like that on purpose coca-cola is very
you know strict with their employees
that they have a non-disclosure
agreement they're not allowed to you
know disclose what that recipe is but
yours back Pepsi actually found out what
the recipe was through you know
different uses of tactics and coca-cola
won a big lawsuit against them so it's
really important to you know make sure
that your trade secrets are protected
but if they are disclosed in a certain
way or if it's unauthorized you know
there is protection that you know the US
Patent and Trademark Office can give you
so you know if it is an unauthorized
disclosure there is where there can be
reprimands for the people who do steal
that trade secret but essentially if you
know you as the trade secret holder if
you fail to maintain secrecy or if the
information is independently discovered
without having without any use of you
know unethical tactics or if it becomes
released in any way
the protection as a trade secret is lost
so it's very very important that if
you're going to do something like this
you have to make sure all the necessary
precautions are in place again trade
secrets don't expire so the protection
continues until discovery or loss of the
secret so that's all I have today if you
have any questions I am actually a
registered patent agent with the US
Patent and Trademark Office so I'm happy
to answer any questions again my name is
Anna kuchela and thank you for listening
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