Elisha Baity, MGT 386, December 10, 2008
A patent is a property right to the inventor of a product that is issued by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (www.uspto.gov). The patent grants exclusion of others making, using, offering for sale, or selling an invention in the U.S. or importing the invention into the U.S. (www.uspto.gov). To obtain a patent, an application needs to be filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (www.uspto.gov).
There are twelve major steps in filing a U.S. Patent application. The steps are as follows (Prashker, 2006):
1. Inventor needs to prepare and submit a written disclosure to company managers of the idea or innovation for review and summary evaluation.
2. Company managers need to review the written disclosure for potential commercial worth and value.
3. Patent counsel prepares a summary evaluation of the written disclosure, identifying technical working essentials and to make sure the essentials meet patent merit requirements.
4. Review the summary evaluation and decide patent protection actually needs to be sought
5. Hold a meeting of the inventor/creator(s), patent counsel, and company managers to determine the scope of the idea in commercial and non-commercial terms. Also, at this meeting, there needs to be details of the inventorship, operation limits and optimal use range.
6. Inventor/creator needs to prepare and submit a full written description of the invention, giving sufficient detail, relevant drawings, useful background information, a list of advantages and a list of unexpected benefits.
7. Patent counsel needs to prepare and distribute the first draft of the patent application to the inventor/creator and company managers.
8. The inventor/creator need to review the first draft patent application text and return the revision to the patent counsel
9. Patent counsel needs to comment and make changes on the revised patent application.
10. After the patent counsel has made comments and additional changes and the final draft has been approved, the manuscript is ready to be sent (with formal supporting documentation and requisite fees) to the U.S. Patent Office.
11. The supporting documents are completed by the patent counsel.
12. Final approved application (approved by patent counsel), supporting documents and fees are sent to the U.S. Patent Office. A serial number is issued along with a filing date for patent purposes.
The patent process is somewhat intensive. Therefore, it is important to do a patent search before embarking in the timely and costly process. It is important to make sure no one else has already patented the idea (www.patensearchexpress.com/patent_search.html). Also, a patent search will prevent lawsuits from violating another person’s patent. One can also read similar patents to their product to find ways to improve the design. Also, a patent search helps reduce the risk of another inventor invalidating the product (during the process, the similar patents should be checked to see what they cover). Lastly, a strong patent search will help determine if the idea can be patented and licensed.
www.patensearchexpress.com/patent_search.html. Retrieved December 10, 2008.
Prashker, David (2006). Twelve Steps To Filing A U.S. Patent Application. Ezine Articles. Retrieved December 10, 2008, from www.ezinearticles.com.
www.uspto.gov. Retrieved December 10, 2008.
Showing posts with label protection. Show all posts
Showing posts with label protection. Show all posts
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Protecting a trademark. How do you protect your trademarks and servicemarks? How do you file with the government?
Elisha Baity, MGT 386, December 10, 2008
A trademark is a word, name, symbol, device, or combination thereof used for a good for identification purposes (www.sec.state.ri.us/corps/trademark/trademark-q.doc). A servicemark is a word, name, symbol or device used for a service for identification purposes (Moore, 2008). A trademark or servicemark should be established at the earliest date of initial use of the good or service (www.amerilawyer.com). Reasons to obtain a trademark or servicemark include the following (www.amerilawyer.com):
* The name of a product can become a valuable asset to a company
* Registration of a trademark or servicemark helps in keeping others from adopting your product or design
* Failure to register a trademark or servicemark can mean no protection or limited protection in a local geographic region
* Registration allows for use of the Federal trademark symbol ®
* Promotion and advertisement of the product can be done with extra assurance
* Injunctions and statutory damages can be allotted if a copycat situation occurs
Requirements to file include filing under the owner’s name, specifying the type of business entitiy, describing the use of the product or advertising of the product on an actual use application, a statement of good faith in an intent-to-use application, and a visual of the product (www.amerilawyer.com). When registering a product or service, the owner must choose a category that is best representative (www.sec.state.ri.us/corps/trademark/trademark-q.doc). If the product or service falls into more than one category, an application needs to be filed for each one (www.sec.state.ri.us/corps/trademark/trademark-q.doc). The registration process for a trademark or servicemark is a six-month to eight-month process (www.amerilawyer.com). Once the registration process has begun, the owner may us the trademark symbol, ™, until the process is complete. After completion, the owner may use the Federal trademark symbol ®.
Failure to register a product or service can cause a company to lose out on substantial benefits. The benefits include nationwide protection, presumption of validity in infringement litigation, and permission to use the ® symbol (www.amerilawyer.com).
References
Moore, Shannon (2008). Trademark vs. Servicemark. Ezine Articles. Retrieved December 10, 2008, from www.ezinearticles.com
www.sec.state.ri.us/corps/trademark/trademark-q.doc. Retrieved December 10, 2008.
www.amerilawyer.com. Retrieved December 10, 2008
A trademark is a word, name, symbol, device, or combination thereof used for a good for identification purposes (www.sec.state.ri.us/corps/trademark/trademark-q.doc). A servicemark is a word, name, symbol or device used for a service for identification purposes (Moore, 2008). A trademark or servicemark should be established at the earliest date of initial use of the good or service (www.amerilawyer.com). Reasons to obtain a trademark or servicemark include the following (www.amerilawyer.com):
* The name of a product can become a valuable asset to a company
* Registration of a trademark or servicemark helps in keeping others from adopting your product or design
* Failure to register a trademark or servicemark can mean no protection or limited protection in a local geographic region
* Registration allows for use of the Federal trademark symbol ®
* Promotion and advertisement of the product can be done with extra assurance
* Injunctions and statutory damages can be allotted if a copycat situation occurs
Requirements to file include filing under the owner’s name, specifying the type of business entitiy, describing the use of the product or advertising of the product on an actual use application, a statement of good faith in an intent-to-use application, and a visual of the product (www.amerilawyer.com). When registering a product or service, the owner must choose a category that is best representative (www.sec.state.ri.us/corps/trademark/trademark-q.doc). If the product or service falls into more than one category, an application needs to be filed for each one (www.sec.state.ri.us/corps/trademark/trademark-q.doc). The registration process for a trademark or servicemark is a six-month to eight-month process (www.amerilawyer.com). Once the registration process has begun, the owner may us the trademark symbol, ™, until the process is complete. After completion, the owner may use the Federal trademark symbol ®.
Failure to register a product or service can cause a company to lose out on substantial benefits. The benefits include nationwide protection, presumption of validity in infringement litigation, and permission to use the ® symbol (www.amerilawyer.com).
References
Moore, Shannon (2008). Trademark vs. Servicemark. Ezine Articles. Retrieved December 10, 2008, from www.ezinearticles.com
www.sec.state.ri.us/corps/trademark/trademark-q.doc. Retrieved December 10, 2008.
www.amerilawyer.com. Retrieved December 10, 2008
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Protecting Trademarks
Chris Jackson, MGT 386, December 5, 2008
As many advisors and lawyers will tell you, registering a trademark or obtaining service rights is the best way to protect the rights to any product or service. According to Wikipedia, “The term trademark is also used informally to refer to any distinguishing attribute by which an individual is readily identified, such as the well known characteristics of celebrities” (Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trademark). In fact, they have also shown to add more value to that particular product or service because they are one of the most important assets to that company. This was best stated in a trademark article by Jane Tucker when she said, “Just as you would protect your other assets from harm, you should also do what is necessary to ensure protection of your trademark or service mark from a competitor who may attempt to sell different goods or services under an identical or confusingly similar name” (Protecting Your Trademark and/or Service Mark Rights, http://www.vanblk.com/Resources/Legal_Articles_Cases/ProtectingYourTrademarkandorServiceMarkRights.asp). It is also to your advantage to go through this process for security reasons as stated above.
Upon further research, I uncovered information on the United States Patent and Trademark Office Website, which stated that there are detailed instructions to follow that can easily lead you to your own registration of a trademark or service mark. In this process of filing with the government, the first step is to identify which type of intellectual property is best for you, which in this case is a trademark. According to the USPTO, “The next step is to search our database, before filing your application, to determine whether anyone is already claiming trademark rights in a particular mark” (United States Patent and Trademark Office, http://www.uspto.gov/web/trademarks/workflow/start.htm). It also states that after you have chosen your mark and conducted a trademark search, you will need to draft a description of goods and/or services. A trademark application is incomplete without a statement identifying the goods and/or services with which the mark is used or will be used. This identification of goods or services must be specific enough to identify the nature of the good or services.
In my research I have found that not only can you register through the United States Patent Office, but you can also register through the Alabama Secretary of State on their website if you wanted to register more of a smaller business type company under a trademark. This process would certify that you would maintain this trademark for ten years until you renew it (Alabama Secretary of State, http://www.sos.state.al.us/BusinessServices/Trademarks.aspx). Rights of ownership of a particular mark are derived from the Common Law of Alabama which states that once you adopt and use a mark, and are documented as the first to use this mark, that you will then have exclusive rights to use that mark.
Protection of trademarks is a serious issue when it comes to protecting a business or product, that is has sometimes landed individuals in the court room with issues that result in severe repercussions. One thing that everyone should do once they decide to apply for a trademark is obtain legal assistance, so that you will have some aide through the process and do not overlook any minor details that could have serious consequences for negligence.
As many advisors and lawyers will tell you, registering a trademark or obtaining service rights is the best way to protect the rights to any product or service. According to Wikipedia, “The term trademark is also used informally to refer to any distinguishing attribute by which an individual is readily identified, such as the well known characteristics of celebrities” (Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trademark). In fact, they have also shown to add more value to that particular product or service because they are one of the most important assets to that company. This was best stated in a trademark article by Jane Tucker when she said, “Just as you would protect your other assets from harm, you should also do what is necessary to ensure protection of your trademark or service mark from a competitor who may attempt to sell different goods or services under an identical or confusingly similar name” (Protecting Your Trademark and/or Service Mark Rights, http://www.vanblk.com/Resources/Legal_Articles_Cases/ProtectingYourTrademarkandorServiceMarkRights.asp). It is also to your advantage to go through this process for security reasons as stated above.
Upon further research, I uncovered information on the United States Patent and Trademark Office Website, which stated that there are detailed instructions to follow that can easily lead you to your own registration of a trademark or service mark. In this process of filing with the government, the first step is to identify which type of intellectual property is best for you, which in this case is a trademark. According to the USPTO, “The next step is to search our database, before filing your application, to determine whether anyone is already claiming trademark rights in a particular mark” (United States Patent and Trademark Office, http://www.uspto.gov/web/trademarks/workflow/start.htm). It also states that after you have chosen your mark and conducted a trademark search, you will need to draft a description of goods and/or services. A trademark application is incomplete without a statement identifying the goods and/or services with which the mark is used or will be used. This identification of goods or services must be specific enough to identify the nature of the good or services.
In my research I have found that not only can you register through the United States Patent Office, but you can also register through the Alabama Secretary of State on their website if you wanted to register more of a smaller business type company under a trademark. This process would certify that you would maintain this trademark for ten years until you renew it (Alabama Secretary of State, http://www.sos.state.al.us/BusinessServices/Trademarks.aspx). Rights of ownership of a particular mark are derived from the Common Law of Alabama which states that once you adopt and use a mark, and are documented as the first to use this mark, that you will then have exclusive rights to use that mark.
Protection of trademarks is a serious issue when it comes to protecting a business or product, that is has sometimes landed individuals in the court room with issues that result in severe repercussions. One thing that everyone should do once they decide to apply for a trademark is obtain legal assistance, so that you will have some aide through the process and do not overlook any minor details that could have serious consequences for negligence.
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