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Click your mouse anywhere on the screen to advance the text in each slide. After the starburst appears, click a blue triangle to move to the next slide or previous slide. 1 44 p Business Law for a New Century

Quote of the Day “One of the greatest pains to human nature is the pain of a new idea. ” Walter Bagehot, English economist and journalist 44 2 p Business Law for a New Century

Patents p A patent is a grant by the government that permits the inventor exclusive use of an invention for 20 years (or 14 years in the case of design patents). p A patent is not available solely for an idea, but only for its tangible application. 44 3 p Business Law for a New Century

Utility Patent p This is the basic type of patent. It is available to those who invent or significantly improve a: • • • 4 Mechanical invention Electrical invention Chemical invention Process Machine Composition of matter 44 p Business Law for a New Century

Other Patents p Design Patent – protects the appearance, but not the function of an item. p Plant Patent – protects a newly created plant, provided that the inventor can reproduce it asexually (through grafting, for example). 44 5 p Business Law for a New Century

Requirements for a Patent p To obtain a patent, the new invention must be: • Novel – not known or used in this country and not published anywhere. • Nonobvious – cannot be an obvious way to do something. • Useful – must have some application, even if not commercially practical. 44 6 p Business Law for a New Century

Patent Application & Issuance p Priority Between Two Inventors – generally, the person first to invent and use the product is given the patent, even over an earlier filer. p Prior Sale –must apply for a patent within one year of selling the product. p Provisional Patent Application – a shorter, cheaper way to file for a patent temporarily, to determine if the invention is commercially practical. 7 44 p Business Law for a New Century

Duration of a Patent p From 1861 until 1994, most patents were good for 17 years. p Now most are good for 20 years. p Design patents are only good for 14 years. p Infringement • A patent holder has exclusive rights to use the invention during the terms of the patent. 8 44 p Business Law for a New Century

Copyrights p The holder of a copyright owns the particular tangible expression of an idea, but not the underlying idea or method of operation. p Infringement -- to prove a violation, the plaintiff must present evidence that the work was original. 44 9 p Business Law for a New Century

Fair Use p The doctrine of fair use permits limited use of copyrighted material without permission of the author for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, scholarship, or research. p The court held that parody is a fair use of copyrighted material as long as the use of the original is not excessive. 10 44 p Business Law for a New Century

Computers p Software – copyrightable aspects: • Codes – both source and object codes • Structure – how a program accomplishes a task • Look and Feel – the way a program looks and uses symbols 44 11 p Business Law for a New Century

Internet p Digital Millennium Copyright Act • Makes it illegal to delete copyright information, such as the author’s name, and then distribute the work via the internet. • It is also illegal to circumvent encryption or scrambling devices. 44 12 p Business Law for a New Century

Trademarks p A trademark is any combination of words and symbols that a business uses to distinguish products or services. p Types of Marks • Trademarks—affixed to goods • Service marks—identify services, not goods • Certification marks—marks used by an organization to attest that products meet certain standards • Collective marks—marks that identify members of an organization 13 44 p Business Law for a New Century

Ownership and Registration p First person to use a mark in trade owns it. p Registration is not necessary, but does have some advantages. 44 14 p Business Law for a New Century

Valid Trademarks p To be valid, a trademark must be distinctive. • Fanciful marks – made up words • Arbitrary marks – existing words that otherwise have no tie to the product • Suggestive marks – indirectly describe the product • Trade dress – includes shape, size, color and texture, if it is unique to this product. 15 44 p Business Law for a New Century

Non-Valid Trademarks p To be valid, a trademark cannot be: • Too similar to an existing mark • A generic word, such as “shoe” • A descriptive word such as “crunchy” • A person’s name alone • Deceptive, scandalous or immoral 44 16 p Business Law for a New Century

Infringement p To win an infringement suit, the trademark owner must show that the defendant’s trademark is likely to deceive customers about who made the product or provided the service. p Federal Trademark Dilution Act of 1995 • The new statute prevents others from using a trademark in a way that dilutes its value. • Even if the misuse does not confuse a consumer about the origin of a product, a trademark cannot be used by others. 17 44 p Business Law for a New Century

Domain Names p Internet addresses, (domain names), were originally assigned with no cost. p Now, domain names are bought and sold – sometimes for enormous amounts of money, and sometimes sold by people who originally registered those names for free. p If a domain name infringes on a registered trademark, the domain name will be suspended immediately if the trademark owner challenges it. 18 44 p Business Law for a New Century

Harmonizing International Laws p Some treaties and other agreements protect copyrights and trademarks worldwide. These include: • • • 19 Paris Convention Patent Cooperation Treaty Berne Convention WIPO Copyright Treaty Madrid Agreement Trademark Law Treaty 44 p Business Law for a New Century

Trade Secrets p A trade secret is a formula, device, process, method, or compilation of information that, when used in business, gives the owner an advantage over competitors who do not know it. p The Economic Espionage Act of 1996. • This statute prohibits any attempt to steal trade secrets for the benefit of someone other than the owner, including for the benefit of any foreign government. 20 44 p Business Law for a New Century

“Intellectual property is a major source of economic prosperity and individual wealth. New ideas increase both productivity and pleasure. Where would we be without patented inventions, books, movies and computer software? ” 21 44 p Business Law for a New Century

Link to the Internet p Clicking on the orange button below will link you to the website for this book. (You must first have an active link to the internet on this computer. ) 22 p Once there, click: p You should then see web links related to that chapter. • • Online Study Guide, then Your choice of a chapter, then Practice, then Internet Applications Click here! Click above to return to the slide show. 44 p Business Law for a New Century