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How are patents
different from other types of intellectual property?
Patents protect ideas and are granted by the Federal Government. Patent
owners are granted rights that allow them to exclude others from making,
using, selling, or offering the patented invention for sale. An idea or
invention may be patented if it meets the statutory requirements set
forth in Title 35 of the United States code. If the idea is "new",
"useful", and "unobvious", a patent may be obtained on it. Typical ideas
that are subject to patent protection include processes, machines,
manufactured items, compositions of matter, or any new and useful
improvement thereof.
Trademarks protect symbolic information such as words, names, and
symbols that indicate the source of goods. These rights prohibit
competitors from using the same or confusingly similar symbols on the
competitor’s wares or services. Trademark rights cannot be used to
prevent others from making the same product or from selling the same
goods under a clearly different mark. Service marks are the same as
trademarks except they are used to protect providers of services rather
than products. Trademarks that are used in interstate or foreign
commerce may be federally registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark
Office.
Copyrights protect original works of authorship fixed in any tangible
medium of expression. Works of authorship include: literary works;
musical works; dramatic works; pantomimes and choreographic works;
pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works; motion pictures and other
audiovisual works; and sound recordings and architectural works.
Copyright protection does not extend to any idea, procedure, process,
system, method of operation, concept, principle, or discovery,
regardless of the form in which it is described, explained, illustrated,
or embodied in such work. However, copyright protection may be obtained
on software code.
Trade Secrets are any formula, pattern, device, or compilation of
information that is used in one's business and gives him an advantage
over competitors who do not know or use it. The information must be
secret and not easily developed by others. An example of a trade secret
is a client list.
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