Intellectual Property Attorney
/ Patent Lawyer
located in Denver, Colorado
office: (303)
744-1030
Intellectual Property Basics
Patents | Trademarks | Copyrights | Trade Secrets
Patents:
Q: What is a patent?
A: A patent is the grant of a property
right from the government to the inventor.
Q: How long does a patent last?
A: Patents granted on applications filed after June 8, 1995
have a term that begins on the date that the patent issues and lasts
20 years from the date that the application was filed. Thus, if the
patent issues two years after the application for patent was filed,
the patent will have an 18-year term.
Q: Who may apply for a patent?
A: According to the law, only the inventor may apply for a
patent, with certain exceptions. If a person who is not the inventor
should apply for a patent, the patent, if it were obtained, would be
invalid. The person applying in such a case who falsely states that
he/she is the inventor would also be subject to criminal penalties.
If two or more persons make an invention jointly, they apply
for a patent as joint inventors. The contributions of the inventors
need not be equal, nor need the contributions be made
simultaneously, for joint inventorship to arise. All that is
necessary is that the person make a material contribution to the
conception of the invention.
Where
joint inventors may be involved, inventorship is a difficult issue.
In general terms, an inventor is someone who contributed to the
conception of the invention. In legal terms, it is more specifically
defined with reference to the person or persons making a “material
contribution to at least one claim of the patent.” Based upon this
definition of an inventor, inventorship can change during the
prosecution of an application, as a result of changes to the claims
in the application. Inventorship is not an issue to be dealt with
lightly. Failure to name an
inventor (nonjoinder) or naming of an incorrect inventor
(misjoinder) can invalidate a patent.
A person will be an
inventor A person who makes a financial contribution is not a joint
inventor and cannot be joined in the application as an inventor.
Trademarks:
Q: What is a trademark?
A: A trademark is a word, name, symbol, device, or any
combination thereof, which is used to distinguish the goods of one
person or entity from the goods manufactured or sold by others, and
to indicate the source of goods, even if the source is unknown.
Q: What is a service mark?
A: Service marks are the same as trademarks, except that
service marks identify services rather than goods.
Q: What is a registered trademark?
A: A registered trademark is a trademark the
US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has accepted and registered
for a certain class of goods. Federally registered marks are
identified by the "®" adjacent to the mark.
There are some important advantages to federal registration
of trademarks including (1) the ability to acquire rights in the
mark over a much greater geographic region than would be possible
based upon common law rights in the mark, (2) a presumption of
ownership and validity of the mark that eases the registered owner's
burden in lawsuits challenging or enforcing their rights, and (3)
the right to assistance from the U.S. Customs Service in preventing
the importation of infringing goods.
Copyrights:
Q: What is a copyright?
A: A copyright is a property right in an original work of
authorship, such as a literary, musical, artistic, photographic, or
film work, fixed in any tangible medium of expression, giving the
holder the exclusive right to reproduce, adapt, distribute, perform,
and display the work.
Trade Secrets:
Q: What is a trade secret?
A: A trade secret is any formula, pattern, device or
compilation of information which is used in one's business, and
which gives the business an opportunity to obtain an advantage over
competitors who do not know or use it. Trade secret protection may
be available even though other forms of intellectual property
protection, such as patent or copyright, are not available.
