Rule of law -- a concise summary

According to the book by NOLO, the best way to protect your own intellectual property is through patents, copyrights and trademarks. “Intellectual property rights are often divided between functional elements (protected by utility patents and trade secrets) and nonfunctional elements (protected by trademarks, copyrights, and design patents)” (Patent, Copyright & Trademark. Nolo 11th Ed. p8). The best way to figure out if you have a piece of intellectual property is to simply ask yourself if “accomplishes a task or goal or is it done primarily to appeal to the senses or provide information or entertainment” (Patent, Copyright & Trademark. Nolo 11th Ed. p8).

The textbook cites many resources for patents, trademarks and copyrights. Ultimately, if you feel as if your intellectual property has been infringed upon, it is your responsibility to take the appropriate action, this is known as “infringement action’ (p 77). Most importantly, the infringement action lawsuit “actions must be filed in the U.S. District Court within a maximum of six years after the date the infringement occurred- or sooner, if a delay in filing would obviously cause undue hardship to the defendant” Patent, Copyright & Trademark. Nolo 11th Ed. p77).

Copyrights and trademarks have similar types of laws that govern how the ownership is enforced. All three types of securing your intellectual property can be reexamined. In fact, “the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) may hold a formal proceeding which it reexamines an in-force patent to determine whether newly cited prior art references adversely affect the validity of the patent (trademark and copyright) (Patent, Copyright & Trademark. Nolo 11th Ed. p125).

If your asking yourself why does any of this matters, it does. The reason we protect ourselves as designers is so we may control who owns the exclusive license to our products. This is important because that person/company can “exploit” the invention and make money with it. As designers, this is how we can earn a lot of money for our hard work.