INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY Patents Trademarks Copyrights IBS UTM City

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY Patents, Trademarks, & Copyrights

IBS UTM City Campus, KL

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY • PATENTS - relate to inventions • TRADEMARKS - relate to product names or symbols • COPYRIGHT - relate to literary or creative works • INDUSTRIAL DESIGNS-relate to external forms and configuration

Top Five Companies Granted US Patents Company Patents Granted Canon 847 Company General Electric 1982 Hitachi RCA Patents Granted 739 1987 Hitachi Toshiba 845 General Electric Phillips 779 IBM 435 687 Siemens 434 823 476 465

PATENTS • Patent holders receive exclusive rights to make, use, or sell an invention, design, or plant. • The patentee must file a detailed description of the invention which is published by the government. • Public disclosure provides a reservoir of technical information. • Some companies prefer to protect their inventions called Trade Secrets kept private to maintain a company’s competitive advantage.

TYPES OF PATENTS GRANTED TO INVENTORS Patent laws provide for granting of patents in three categories: • Utility Patents - new, useful, or improved processes, machines, apparatuses, articles of manufacture, or compositions of matter • Design Patents - new, original, and ornamental designs for an article of manufacture • Plant Patents - inventions, discoveries, or asexually reproduced distinct and new varieties of plants; including cultivated sports, mutants, hybrids, newly found seedlings, and living organisms

LENGTH OF PATENTS ARE GRANTED TO THE TRUE INVENTOR FOR: UTILITY & PLANT PATENTS FOR 20 YEARS DESIGN PATENTS FOR 14 YEARS

Utility Patents • utility: new or useful invention, process, or significant improvement on existing objects or methods • most patents are utility patents • examples: bicycle handlebars, but not the bicycle; new metal alloys; drugs (Prozac, aka fluoxetine); genetically modified organisms (GMOs); molecules • term length: 20 yrs; after that it becomes public domain, e. g. , generic drugs

Contents of Utility Patents • references, abstract, claims (specifications), drawing figures • references are to “prior art”: previous inventions that this one has improved upon, making it “state-of-the-art” • abstract explains the basic operating principles of the invention • claims: “brief descriptions of the subject matter of the invention… reciting all essential features necessary to distinguish the invention from what is old. ” • drawings: how it works; molecular structure, etc.

Plant & Design Patents • similar in format to utility patents • plants: invention, discovery, mutation or asexual reproduction of new kinds of plants; e. g. , grafts, hybrids • term length: 20 yrs • designs: “new, original and ornamental design for an article of manufacture; ” not artwork (copyright) or logos (trademark); e. g. , the Coke Bottle Radio • term length: 14 yrs

PARTS OF THE PATENT • Typical patent includes: • Drawings • Brief Abstract or Summary • Patent Specification • Detailed Description of How To Make or Use the Invention

Strategies When Blocked by Competitors Patents 1. Buy the patent or the company (Microsoft vs Stac) 2. Create better technology & patent around 3. Sue for infringement or invalidate patent by legal action 4. Oppose pending applications

Better Strategy for Blocking Patents 1. Cross License or swap the IP 2. Form a patent pool 3. Initiate a joint venture with combined IP Works best with industry giants such as IBM and Intel.

Two Most Important Variables in Patent Scenarios 1. Amount of Prior Art 2. Rate of Change in Field

Patent Litigation Value Bonanza • Example: STAC develops data compression technology. • Files patents and buys existing patents to build strong portfolio. • Microsoft loses infringement case to the tune of $120 Mil. In 1994 • Wake up call for IT industry

• Rambus once allied with Intel • Now Rambus suing Hitachi for infringement of DRAM patents • Huge profits from extorting licenses.

WHAT IS A TRADEMARK? • TRADEMARK - Either a word, name, phrase, color, smell, symbol or design, or combination of words, phrases, symbols, or designs that identifies and distinguishes the source of the goods or services of one party - appears on the product or on its packaging (TM trademark) • TRADENAME - virtually the same as trademark • SERVICE MARK - Identifies and distinguishes the source of a service rather than a product - appears in advertising for the services (SM - service mark)

TRADEMARKS Trademarks are renewable indefinitely as long as the mark is being used

RIGHTS IN A MARK Rights arise from either: • RIGHT TO USE - actual use of a mark in commerce • RIGHT TO REGISTER - or the filing of an application to register a mark in the PTO stating that the applicant has a bona fide intention to use the mark in commerce. The registration symbol is used when the mark is registered and signifies ownership and all the commercial and legal benefits that may derive by virtue of ownership.

GENERICIDE TRADEMARK GRAVEYARD • • ASPIRIN CELLOPHANE CELLULOID CORN FLAKES CUBE STEAK DRY ICE ESCALATOR LANOLIN • • • MALTED MILK OF MAGNESIA MIMEOGRAPH MINERAL OIL POCKET BOOK SHREDDED WHEAT THERMOS TRAMPOLINE YO-YO

Registered Design Examples IBS UTM City Campus, KL

Trade Secrets z Coca Cola Co. probably has all possible types of intellectual property: trade secrets, utility patents, design patents, trademarks, copyrights, maybe even plant patents z Anyone catch the fuss about the couple who bought Colonel Sanders’s house and thought they found the KFC recipe? Combination of herbs & spices is a trade secret z Morehead suggests there’s no stringent definition of a trade secret, just that “adequate security measures” are taken to prevent disclosure z Secret recipes, new product plans, client lists--nondisclosure agreements are designed to cover all of these z Uniform Trade Secrets Act, Economic Espionage Act (1996) IBS UTM City Campus, KL

COPYRIGHT Copyright Law protects authors, artists, & others from theft of their intellectual property

COPYRIGHT • Copyright protects intellectual property including; • books • music • plays • choreography • photographs • • • game boards & rules art motion pictures sound recordings computer programs architectural blueprints advertisements labels maps

COPYRIGHT • Copyright protection is granted for the length of the author’s life plus 50 years. Joint works are copyrighted for the lifetime of the last surviving author plus 50 years

COPYRIGHTABLE WORKS • WORKS OF FACT - news stories, telephone directories, photographs, new footage • WORKS OF FUNCTION - computer programs (operating systems) or computer programs (applications) • WORKS OF ART - scripts, film, sculpture • Overlapping Protection - some works are eligible for both copyright and patent protection

IBS UTM City Campus, KL

BASMATI – Rice. Tec vs INDIA • Discuss the grounds for the cases for both parties • What are the broader implications of this case for developing countries and their companies? • In your assessment, is IP policy fair or otherwise?