Lecture 7 INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY Defining IP Copyrights trademarks inventions designs processes in doing business logos etc Why is IP important Crucial to a strong economy o Counterfeit golf multi billion dollar industry very sophisticated o Counterfeit drugs dangers of fake Viagra easy to make low cost No chance to recover anything from the injury sustained from counterfeit drug company o Innovation and Economy encourages innovation and supports the economy strong legal protection TRADE SECRETS Two Requirements 1 Knowledge or information that has economic value in not being generally known 2 Subject to reasonable efforts to maintain secrecy coke s ingredients o When a trade secret is wrongfully disclosed o Misappropriation when someone wrongfully obtains a trade secret creates big liability o Strength lasts forever o Weakness protection falls apart as soon as you have public disclosure reverse engineering figures out the secret from the product in a lab or where ever independent invention o Legitimate because you have made reasonable effort to keep it a secret PATENTS An exclusive right conveyed by the US patent and trademark office for a limited period of time 1 Utility patent how stuff works functionality new non obvious process or machine or composition a lasts 20 years from filing b ex circuitry in an iphone the way the touch screen works 2 Design patent appearance new original ornamental design iphone has both design and utility patents a lasts 14 years from filing 3 Plant patent can produce plants asexually Weber Grills no longer have patent anyone can borrow from that design due to an expired patent Patent vs Trade Secret Trade secret unlimited duration don t require filing secrets that are not patentable can t patent a marketing strategy Patent require filing easy to get creates incentive to throw patents to US PTO until they get one approved TRADEMARKS Marks that indicate a certain producer Don t require filing to be protected but you can file trademarks with the US PTO for additional protection last indefinitely lose if TM becomes generic Rights emerge from the use of the trademark and the association between a service or a good and your mark o Ex Nike UGA bulldawg etc o The R for registered TM unregistered and C for copyright are all not required Used to be Trademarks o Aspirin light beer refrigerators Greenbay gave UGA permission to use G Becomes Generic if when o If owner doesn t defend against unauthorized use o When the public becomes confused as to whether a product refers to a certain producer or a just a type of product Trademark Infringement LSU vs Smack Apparel Smack apparel selling clothing that was very similar to college apparel Look at Two Aspects for Trademark Infringement o Potential confusion o Illegally protectable trademark Trade Dress Deals with an image or appearance associated with a product parallel to trademarks Not a new novel design on a product that is eligible for a patent Trade dress would have to be very specific to get a trade dress INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY CONTINUED COPYRIGHTS For creative expressions music writing intellectual ideas protect authors scholars and artists Has to be original and in a fixed tangible medium something that you can look back to can t copyright something that you once said that has no record of it Must be some creative expression novel ideas do not protect facts processes Duration is the authors life plus 70 years o Multiple authors extends to the last living co author plus 70 years Copyright protection arises automatically doesn t require registration the subscript C is not necessary to have a protected copyright Fair use allows people to without infringement discuss teach or critique copyright