| Works Made for Hire under the 1976 Copyright Act |
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| Under the 1976 Copyright Act as amended, a work is protected by copyright from the time it is created in a fixed form. The copyright immediately becomes the property of the author who created it. Generally, the person who created a work is the author of that work but there is an exception to that rule. Where a work is "made for hire," the employer, not the employee, is considered the author. More... |
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| Patents |
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| A patent allows an inventor to exclude others from making, using, selling, offering for sale, or importing the patented invention without the inventor's permission for a limited period of time. Patent rights are granted by federal law, which also provides that an inventor whose patent is infringed may seek a remedy in court as one might for other wrongs. There are several defenses to patent infringement that may be asserted by one who is sued for patent infringement. One defense that not only will negate infringement liability but will also destroy the validity of a patent is inequitable conduct on the part of the inventor in procuring the patent. More... |
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| Patents |
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| After a patent is issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the patent owner may mark the patented articles with the word "Patent" or the abbreviation "Pat." along with the patent number assigned by the USPTO. This marking of the patent number on the product constitutes notification of the patent, which is essential to a monetary recovery in a patent action. Although that patent statute states that a patent owner "may give notice" of the patent by marking the patented article, monetary damages for the infringement of an unmarked item can only be recovered from the time that the alleged infringer has been notified of the infringement by a cease and desist letter, by service of a summons and a copy of the complaint, or by other means. In such a case, if the alleged infringer ceases the infringing activity immediately upon notification, a monetary recovery could not be had at all in an infringement suit. More... |
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| Works Not Protected by Copyright |
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| Certain works and subject matter are expressly excluded from protection under the Copyright Act, regardless of their originality, creativity, and fixation. Titles, names, short phrases, and slogans generally do not enjoy copyright protection under the Copyright Act. Other material ineligible for copyright protection includes the utilitarian elements of industrial designs; familiar symbols or designs; simple geometrical shapes; mere variations of typographic ornamentation, lettering or coloring; and common works considered public property, such as standard calendars, height and weight charts, and tape measures and rulers. More... |
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| Trademark Fair Use |
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| A party is entitled to use a trademark in such as way as to describe the qualities that a mark represents as long as the manner of use of the mark is not as a trademark but only used in a descriptive sense. Fair use of a trademark occurs when a defendant uses a descriptive trademark of another party to describe the defendant's own product. This is the fair use defense set forth in the Lanham Act that provides: More... |
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