Resources: Patents, Trademarks & Copyrights
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Patents
What is a Patent?
A patent for an invention is the grant of a
property right to the inventor, issued by the Patent and
Trademark Office. The term of a new patent is 20 years from the
date on which the application for the patent was filed in the
United States or, in special cases, from the date an earlier
related application was filed, subject to the payment of
maintenance fees. US patent grants are effective only within the
US, US territories, and US possessions.
The right conferred by the patent grant is, in the language of
the statute and of the grant itself, “the right to exclude
others from
making, using, offering for sale, or selling” the invention
in the United States or “importing” the invention into
the United States.
What is granted is not the right to make, use, offer for sale,
sell or import, but the right to exclude others from making,
using, offering for sale, selling or importing the invention.
What Can
Be Patented? - The patent law
specifies the general field of subject matter that can be
patented and the conditions under which a patent may be obtained.
Frequently
Asked Questions About Patents
Application Processes
A
Guide to Filing A Design Patent Application
A
Guide to Filing a Utility Patent Application
Software
PatentIn
Version 2.0
Links
An
Attorney's Answers About Patent & Trademarks
Patents
and Patent Searching
United States
Patent and Trademark Office
Where
to find patent information on the Internet
Trademarks
What Is a Trademark or Servicemark?
A trademark is a word, name, symbol or device which is used in
trade with goods to indicate the source of the goods and to
distinguish them from the goods of others. A servicemark is the
same as a trademark except that it identifies and distinguishes
the source of a service rather than a product. The terms
"trademark" and "mark" are commonly used to
refer to both
trademarks and servicemarks.
Trademark rights may be used to prevent others from using a
confusingly similar mark, but not to prevent others from making
the same goods or from selling the same goods or services under a
clearly different mark. Trademarks which are used in
interstate or foreign commerce may be registered with the Patent
and Trademark Office. The registration procedure for
trademarks and general information concerning trademarks is
described in a separate pamphlet entitled "Basic Facts about
Trademarks".
Basic
Facts About Registering A Trademark
Frequently
Asked Questions About Trademarks
Copyrights
What does copyright
protect?
Copyright, a form of intellectual
property law, protects original works of authorship including
literary, dramatic,
musical, and artistic works such as poetry, novels, movies,
songs, computer software and architecture. Copyright does
not protect facts, ideas, systems, or methods of operation,
although it may protect the way these things are expressed.
Questions
Frequently Asked About Copyrights
Copyright Registration Procedures
Links
Copyright Clearance Center Online (CCC)
Not-for-profit organization created to help compliance
with U.S. copyright law through its collective
licensing programs.
Guide
to Copyrights
Defines and explains copyight-related issues, including how to
obtain one.
Copyright
Website
Internet copyright information center.
United States Copyrights Office
Books on Patents,
Trademarks and Copyrights - from Barnes & Noble.
Patents, Trademarks, and Copyrights:
Practical Legal Strategies for Protecting Your Ideas and
Inventions
Patents, Copyrights and Trademarks - Substantial revision of the
easy-to-read first edition in the area of intellectual property
rights. Includes new chapters on computer software as applied to
copyright and international patents.
Patents, Getting One: A Cost Cutting
Primer for Inventors - This books
offers practical techniques to developing a patent.
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