Welcome to Intellectual Property PA328-01. The Syllabus Due dates for assignments (Tuesday of that Unit)…

Welcome to Intellectual Property PA328-01

The Syllabus

• Due dates for assignments (Tuesday of that Unit)• Seminars for Units 1, 2 3, 4, 6, 7, 8 and 9 (4 points)• Quizzes for Units 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7 and 8 (20 points)• Discussion Board for Units 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8 and 9 (16

points)• Office Hours – Wednesdays at 9 PM EST and

Thursdays at 8 PM EST

The Syllabus

• Writing Assignments – Units 4 and 7 (85 points)• Midterm essay and midterm exam (85 and 105 points)• Final essay and final exam (85 and 105 points)• Research Paper – Draft Unit 6; Final Unit 9 (150 points)

About the Course

• Rubrics for Grading and Discussion Board are in DocSharing

• Written Assignments: Subject matter is 40% and Mechanics, Format, Style and Language total 60%.

• Discussion Board: Breadth and Depth is 50%; Clarity, Organization, Grammar and Mechanics are 25%; and Timeliness and Frequency are 25%.

About the Course

• Students in the course are at different levels regarding their understanding of the subject matter – Intellectual Property – if you know more, please share your understanding on the DB; if you don’t understand something, please ask!

• We meet on Thursday evenings, one day into the unit week. Please try to read the materials before our seminar. I will attempt to provide a weekly overview of the materials.

About the Course

• In every unit, you will be introduced to a set of key terms. Reviewing and learning the key terms on a weekly basis is vital to your understanding of each unit's content. This Glossary provides all of the course's terminology in one central location. 

• If anyone needs help with using the KHE Seminar, please let me know as there is a user guide available.

WRITTEN ASSIGNMENTS - LATE POLICY• To earn full credit for an assignment, students are

required to submit the assignment by 11:59 p.m. ET on the due date.  

• A maximum penalty of 5% per week will be assessed on all late work. No late work will be accepted more than 3 weeks after the original due date or after the conclusion of Unit 7 without an extenuating circumstance and prior instructor approval. 

• Rubrics for Grading in DocSharing for Written Assignments: Subject matter is 40% and Mechanics, Format, Style and Language total 60%.

Unit 1: Introduction to Intellectual Property and Trademarks

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=9Yp_Xj6YshM

Intellectual Property

• The product of human ideas, creativity, and thought. The purpose of intellectual property law is to stimulate this creativity and encourage the development of new ideas and inventions by preventing copying and the resulting unfair enrichment of others.

• Original creative works that have economic value and are protected by law.

Technology and Intellectual Property

• While people have always realized the• importance of protecting intellectual property• rights, the rapidly developing pace of technology• has led to increased awareness of the importance• of intellectual property assets.

Four Types of Intellectual Property

• The fruits or product of human creativity, including• literature, advertising slogans, songs, or new inventions. • Copyrights.• Trade secrets.• Patents.• Trademarks.

Copyrights

• Protect original works of authorship. They do not require publication or registration in order to obtain protection under the federal copyright laws. Copyrights protect original works once they are fixed in a tangible form.

• Registering a copyright is generally easy and inexpensive. Copyrights are governed solely by federal law. Because of this, states are preempted from regulating this area of law.

Copyrights – Library of Congress

• The Library of Congress is the U.S. agency that is responsible for examining more than 600,000 copyright applications each year and issuing registrations to successful applicants.

Trade Secrets

• Any confidential business information that is valuable to the owner. Trade secret laws protect a company's information, such as formulas, methods, recipes, and marketing plans, which are held in secrecy and give an advantage over other businesses.

• Trade secrets are governed by state case law, statutory law, and contractual agreements between parties (such as with non-disclosure agreements).

Trade Secrets – Commercial Information• Any commercial information that, if known by a• competitor, would afford the competitor an advantage in

the marketplace.• Registration is not required for existence and ownership

of a trade secret.

Patents

• Gives rights to those who invent new machines and/or processes. Patents protect new inventions of machines, processes, designs, plant varieties, etc., and prevent others from making, using, or selling these inventions.

Three Types of Patents

• Utility patents protect new inventions and discoveries. • Design patents protect new, original, and decorative designs

for items such as furniture. • Plant patents protect new varieties and hybrids of plants,

such as flowers and vegetables. • One must file an application for a patent with the U.S. Patent

and Trademark Office (the PTO); this process takes a couple of years and can be costly.

Trademarks

• Protect logos, images, words, names, and symbols first used in commerce that identify and distinguish a business' product from another's product.

• Trademark law protects certain names, logos, images and designs from being used by other companies.

Four Types of Marks

• Trademarks are used for tangible goods.• Service marks are words, names, symbols or devices used to

identify services.• Certification marks are words, names, symbols or devices used

to certify some quality of a• product or service. • Collective marks indicate membership in an organization. 

Functions of Trademarks

• Identify one maker’s goods or services and distinguish them from those offered by others.

• Indicate that all goods or services offered under the mark come from a single producer, manufacturer, or source.

• Indicate that all goods or services offered under the mark are of consistent quality. Goodwill.

• Serves as an advertising device so that consumers link a product or service being offered with a mark.

The Lanham Act

• The federal statute governing trademark rights.• Also called the United States Trademark Act and found

at 15 U.S.C. § 1051 et seq., enacted in 1946, named for Congressman Fritz Garland Lanham (D. Tex.).

• The government agency responsible for reviewing trademark applications and issuing registrations is the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO).

Paralegals and Intellectual Property

• A growing, exciting, and dynamic area, offering unique• opportunities and challenging work. The field changes

on nearly a daily basis.• The issues are interesting, and IP paralegals are valued

members of a legal team devoted to ensuring that clients receive the broadest possible scope of protection for their creative assets.

Tasks Performed by IP Paralegals

• Trademark searching to clear marks for use and preparing, filing, and monitoring trademark registration applications, maintenance, and renewal documents.

• Preparing, filing, and monitoring copyright registration applications.• Patent searching and preparing, filing, and monitoring patent

applications.• Drafting license agreements for licensing of trademarks, copyrights,

and patents.

More Tasks Performed by IP Paralegals

• Preparing employment agreements and noncompetition agreements.

• Assisting in intellectual property audits to determine the extent and value of a client’s intellectual property.

• Protection of trade secrets by developing and implementing policies for protection of trade secrets.

• Research regarding whether a mark satisfies the• requirements of the Lanham Act.

Your Thoughts on Intellectual Property

Alexander Graham Bell• “An inventor is a man who looks around upon the world, and is

not content with things as they are; he wants to improve whatever he sees; he wants to benefit the world; he is haunted by an idea; the spirit of invention possesses him, seeing materialization.”

• What do you think of when you hear the term “Intellectual Property”?

• If you were to choose an area of intellectual property to learn more about, which area would it be, and why?

• As a paralegal, what do you think you can do to contribute in the legal realm of intellectual property?

Discussion Question 1 – UNIT 1

• "Digital rights management" is a technology that allows copyright owners to control users' access to their works.

• Read "Licensed to Bill," an article from Wired Magazine, including its companion page. It is six pages long.

• After reading the article, consider the following:Do you think the 2006 scenario (as discussed in "Licensed to Bill") is an accurate prediction? Why or why not? Suggest an alternate scenario and give your rationale for why you think it should be different.

•

Discussion Question 2 – Unit 1

• Imagine that you and your friend are about to start a company that is going to produce sneakers. Come up with some names that would most likely not be approved because they were a) deceptive and b) descriptive and confusingly similar to another mark. Then propose some names that you think would withstand scrutiny.

Discussion Board Instructions

• Post your thoughts and responses to the Discussion Board as to each question.

• Read and comment on posts from your colleagues. • Do not hesitate to pose questions to your colleagues.• Discuss constructively with your colleagues their posts

and positions.• Post as early in the week as possible to foster

interaction.

Research Paper – Draft and Final

• The focus of the research paper will be a relatively recent case by the U.S. Supreme Court. In Wal-Mart Stores v. Samara Brothers, Wal-Mart stores contracted with a clothing manufacturer, Judy-Philippine, Inc., to copy designs by another well-known company, Samara Brothers, Inc., and to manufacture clothes for Wal-Mart.  Samara Brothers learned of this copying and sued for Trademark infringement. 

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Samara Brothers, Inc., 529 U.S. 205 (2000)• The question that this case focuses on is whether the

design of the garment itself is protected under Trademark law when it has not been registered.  In general, a trademark does not have to be registered to be awarded protection under trademark law.  However, whether the design of a garment, including familiar objects such as flowers, can also be protected under this law.

Address the Following Questions

• How were prior cases on the question of trademark protection addressed by the Court?

• Did any federal statute play a substantial role in the decision of the Court?

• Explain the Wal-Mart decision.  What was the holding and what did the Court base this holding on?

• Was the holding of the court broad or narrow? What do you perceive the impact of this case will be on the industry?