Intellectual property represents the rights of owners and authors in original works and inventions. Intellectual property is secured through four separate bodies of law: patent law, copyright law, trademark law and trade secret law.

Patent Law protects new, useful, and nonobvious inventions. Copyright Law protects the expressions contained in original works of authorship. Trademark Law protects words and symbols that are used in connection with products and services. Trade Secret Law protects any formula, pattern, practice, device or compilation of information used in business that provides an advantage over competitors who do not know it.

IN GENERAL PATENT LAW PRIMER COPYRIGHT LAW PRIMER TRADEMARK LAW PRIMER TRADE SECRET LAW PRIMER IP AUTHORITIES IP BIBLIOGRAPHY

Patents4

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. 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. more...

Copyrights4

Copyright is a form of intellectual property securing to authors the rights in their original works of authorship.

Under U.S. copyright law, protected works may include literary, dramatic, artistic and musical works as well as additional forms of intellectual expression.

The interests secured to authors in these works generally include the exclusive rights to:

1. Reproduce copies of the work;
2. Prepare derivative works based on their original expression;
3. Distribute copies of the work by transfer, lease or loan; and
4. Display or perform the work publicly;