FLeCusa International

Intellectual property (IP) is a term referring to a number of distinct types of intangible original, created assets, both artistic and commercial, recognizable under law. Under intellectual property law, owners are granted certain exclusive rights to a variety of intangible assets, such as musical, literary, and artistic works; discoveries and inventions; and words, phrases, symbols, and designs. Common types of intellectual property include copyrights, patents, trademarks, copyrights, industrial design rights and trade secrets (in some jurisdictions).

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Patents — A patent for an invention gives the inventor a right to exclude others from manufacturing or selling the invention in the territory or jurisdiction which issues the patent.  For example, a patent  issued by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, one of the branches of the U.S. Department of Commerce, provides the inventor with an exclusive license to prevent other people from manufacturing and selling the invention in the United States.

In the United States there are three different types of patents that can issue: (1) a utility patent, which covers the functionality; (2) a design patent, which covers the design of an object; and (3) a plant patent, which covers newly-developed living plants.

Each type of patent confers “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. However, patents do not protect ideas, but only protect objects reduced to some sort of  physical state, even if it’s only in the form of unique and original computer code.

Tthe patent term for utility patents is now 20 years from the date on which the application for the patent is filed in the United States. Under some circumstances an extension is possible, but often such an extension is not available. Design patents run for 14 years from date of issuance.

Trademarks – A trademark (or in the case of a service, a Service Mark) can be a word, a name, or logo or other symbol used in conjunction with specific goods or services to indentify the originator of the goods or services and to distinguish them from the goods or services of others.

Trademarks and service marks that are adequately protected can be used to prevent others from adopting and using marks that are confusingly similar to the protected mark, but will not permit the owner to stop others from making the same goods or from selling the same goods or services under a mark that is sufficiently different from the protected mark. Trademarks which are used in U.S. interstate or foreign commerce may be registered with the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office.