Intellectual Property

Intellectual Property law covers several basic areas: Copyrights, Patents, Trademarks, Trade Secrets and Licensing.

Copyright is grounded in the U.S. Constitution (Art. 1 § 8) and provides intellectual property protection for "original works of authorship fixed in any tangible medium of expression, now known or later developed, from which they can be perceived, reproduced, or otherwise communicated, either directly or with the aid of a machine or device."

Section 101 of the Patent Act establishes categories of patentable subject matter. An invention may be patented only if it fits within one of the statutory classes of subject matter. The general purpose of the statutory classes of subject matter is to limit patent protection to the field of applied technology. Theoretical or abstract discoveries are excluded as are discoveries, however practical and useful, in nontechnological arts, such as the liberal arts, the social sciences, theoretical mathematics, and business and management methodology.

Trademark protection in the United States is based upon a dual system of federal and state intellectual property law. The Lanham Act (15 U.S.C. §§ 1051 et seq.) applies at the federal level, and both the common law of unfair competition and a network of statutory laws apply at the state level.

A trade secret involves the right of the owner to use and to disclose company information to others. It is an intellectual property right, and thus includes the same inherent rights as other types of property.

A license permits the licensee to do that which, absent the license, would be trespass on the intellectual property rights of another.