Patents, Registered Designs, Trade Marks and Copyright For Dummies

John Grant, Charlie Ashworth, Henri J. A. Charmasson

• Publisher: For Dummies
• Year: 2011
• ISBN:
  9781119996996
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Law
• Subtopic: Intellectual Property Law
• Index: Law

Do you have a great idea for the next big thing, an eye-catching new corporate logo, or an exciting new business concept? Understand how to safeguard your ideas and creations with this expert guide to the fundamentals of intellectual property. Walking you step-by-step through the processes involved in protecting your great ideas, this book offers all the advice you need to ensure that you're the only one cashing in on your creativity and hard work.

Part I

Covering Your Assets: Intellectual Property Basics

In this part . . .

If you’re currently reading this page, you probably have an invention, a creative work, a trade mark, or some other piece of intellectual property that you want to guard against all the copycats out there. Well, you’ve come to the right place. In this part, we give you an overview of intellectual property (IP) in all its glory and tell you why protecting these assets is important. We map out each IP instrument – patents, designs, copyright, and trade marks – showing how they each protect a different type of IP asset. We also talk about ways to treat your IP as a trade secret, by restricting access to information, using confidentiality agreements, and taking advantage of other tools at your disposal. And we top things off with info on hiring an IP attorney (when, why, and how), working effectively with them, and estimating how much the whole process can set you back.

Chapter 1

Examining the Tools in Your IP Box

In This Chapter

Understanding the difference between IP assets and IP rights

Sharing some trade secrets

Making money with your IP rights

Enforcing your IP rights in court

Welcome to the world of intellectual property rights (IPRs). If you’ve created, invented, or named something that you’re selling, you already have intellectual property (IP). And that property may be quite valuable. What if you invented the Dyson vacuum cleaner or wrote the first For Dummies book? Wouldn’t you like to be able to cash in on it? Exploiting your IP assets for your own financial gain and at the same time pursuing people bent on infringing your precious but fragile rights to those assets is what this chapter and, in general, this book is all about.

Buying into Intellectual Property

We’ve encountered many true and effective definitions of IP, including information with a commercial value, proprietary product of the mind, and things protected by patents, registered designs, copyright, and trade marks, but none of the definitions is quite complete. Here’s the definition we like best:

Intellectual property is intangible creations of the mind that can be legally protected. Because IP has no physical form, we give you a better idea of what it is in the following comparative examples:

IP is not the new and wondrous machine that you developed in your garage, but the invention embodied in that machine.

IP is not the marvellously efficient cholesterol-reducing pill you see advertised on TV, but the formula and the process used in manufacturing that pill.

IP is not the portrait that an artist made of you, but the aesthetic expression of the artist’s talent reflected by the painting.

IP is not the lawnmower that you reluctantly start up every Saturday, but the brand name that embodies the reputation of the product and its manufacturer.

Now we want to expand on our definition. IP comprises two components:

Assets: IP assets are intangible creations, such as the invention, the formula and process, the expression of artist’s talents as reflected in a painting, and the brand name.

Rights: IP rights consist of the legal protections that secure each IP asset against its unauthorised use by others. One or more of the following legal protections can be used to secure IP rights:

• Copyright: Holding a copyright shields artistic expression against copying by others.

• Patents: Obtaining a patent protects the invention from outright thievery.

• Registered Designs: Registering your design(s) protects them from being copied by an infringer.

• Trade Marks: Adopting a trade mark as a brand name keeps it and its market reputation yours and yours alone.

• Trade secrets: Keeping a formula or manufacturing process confidential safeguards it against imitators.

Some IP rights – copyright, design rights, and trade mark rights, in particular – attach themselves automatically upon the creation or use of the IP assets without you ever having to lift a finger or spend a cent. Obtaining other IP rights – patents, registered designs, and registered trade marks – requires you to put up a pretty good fight and spend plenty of money.

An unprotected IP asset is up for grabs – anyone can copy it, steal it, or change it for the worse (possibly damaging your good reputation). The bottom line is that your unprotected IP fattens the bad guy’s bottom line.

But there’s more to IP assets and rights than mere talk of patents, registered designs, copyright, and trade marks, and that’s what this chapter is all about. You first must verify that you own that IP asset you want to protect, make sure that it’s original, and know how to secure all the IP rights that can apply to it. And last but not least, you have to know how to get the professional advice that you need.

A little IP history

Although the first letters patent (an archaic meaning of patent) was granted by King Henry VI to John of Utynam in 1449 for the manufacture of stained glass, it was not until 1852 that the United Kingdom Patent Office was set up to act as the sole authority for the granting of patents.

The Patent Office, renamed as the UK Intellectual Property Office on 2 April 2007, now deals with all manner of IP, including patents, registered designs, and trade marks.

Exploring the Patent Process

The most well-known – although not the most practical – form of IP protection is a patent. A patent is a temporary legal right granted by the government as a reward for a unique invention, giving you – the inventor – a way to keep others from stealing the fruits of your labour – the invention.

Patent law defines an invention as a technological advancement that’s useful, new, and isn’t obvious to a person with ordinary skill in the field of technology. Inventions can take many forms, from a machine or device to a method or process, from a new composition to a new use of an old product.

If you’re wondering whether your latest and greatest invention actually fits the invention bill, check out Chapter 4, which details the types of patents and the inventions covered by each.

Obtaining the grant of a patent

You file an detailed application that c...

Table of contents

• Title
• Contents
• Introduction
• Part I : Covering Your Assets: Intellectual Property Basics
• Part II : Patenting Your Product
• Part III : Knowing Your Copyright
• Part IV : Making Your Mark: Protecting Your Brand Identity
• Part V : Exploiting and Enforcing Your IP Rights
• Part VI : The Part of Tens
• : Further Reading