Intellectual Property Law

Technically, the person seeking a patent does not publish the patent. Instead, the PTO (short for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office) publishes a patent after the PTO has approved the patent...

A musical play is filled with original songs and possible dance numbers that may be confusing to properly copyright. The copyright process for musical plays is actually easy because the play and...

Negotiating a high royalty fee for licensing your patent requires hard work and significant investment before you ever sit down at the negotiating table. You will have to think like a businessman...

The patent laws of various nations recognize three main types of patents: utility patents (for new technology), design patents (for unique cosmetic features), and plant patents (for biological...

EXE files are computer program files known as "executable files" that take programming codes to start and run a program. These files, often marked by "*.exe" notations in computer file lists, are...

A copyright is the law that protects intellectual property. Books, stories, art, songs and even sewing and quilting patterns can be copyrighted, provided the work is supplied in a fixed form, such...

Most inventions become the property of a company the moment they are invented, because employees enter into "work for hire" agreements that require them to automatically assign the rights to their...

If you have invented something, your first step will be to obtain patent protection in as many nations as you can. After that, you will need to market your invention to manufacturers. Then you...

The US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) offers three main types of patent protection: utility patents, design patents, and plant patents. Utility patents can be issued for any new invention and...

Notaries play an important role in authenticating legal papers by witnessing the signing and verifying the identity of the person signing. Some legal papers are required by law to be notarized to...

It's possible to find the copyright information on every top 40 hit from the 1980s. Songs can't get published and earn money without first being registered with the U.S. Copyright Office. Every...

Protection of technology and other intellectual property is growing increasingly difficult as digital mediums expand. The ease of creating unauthorized duplicates of digital technology fuels the...

Copyright and trade name or trademark protection is available from the United States government to protect a variety of works. The protection available depends on the type of work created.

Got a ground breaking idea? Is your brilliant brain going to revolutionize the way we live? Then get a patent you crazy little inventor you! Patents are a great way for you to claim your idea....

If you hold intellectual property rights, you may wish to transfer them to someone else. This is most commonly done through the execution of an intellectual property license agreement. License...

When you created your invention, you had to think like an inventor. When you patented it, you had to think like a lawyer. If you want to market it, you're going to have to think like a...

So you've finally finished writing your stunning prose or fantastic song. Now you want to copyright your published or unpublished work so it can't be used without your permission. Although since...

A confidentiality, or non-disclosure agreement, is a means by which a company seeks to protect, from unauthorized disclosure, its trade secrets or proprietary technology that is essential to the...

The road from an invention idea to royalties is a long one. It winds through reduction of your idea into a useful invention, application for patent protection, marketing to manufacturers or...

The business names of many companies are the most important assets they possess, representing their reputation and accumulated good will. Since the hijacking of a business name by an unscrupulous...

Inventors and authors of software often do not have the financial resources to market the products they create. For this reason, they often approach manufacturers or distributors with offers to...

Anyone with a great idea thinks of getting a patent. It is only logical when you are thinking of inventing something new that you patent the idea. In that way, you can be sure that your...

New inventions are created from ideas and then worked into the state of being an invention. As a result of the fact that inventions come from ideas, many inventors patent their ideas so that...

New inventions in the world of sports can be very lucrative if they're properly developed and brought to market. However, there are certain things you need to do to protect and represent your...

Patents protect physical inventions rather than compositions (as copyrights do) or trade names (as trademarks do). If you wish to apply for patent protection for your invention rather than keep it...

When you write a screenplay or any other written work, such as novels, journals, and stories, you form a basic copyright protection the instant you put an idea and text to paper. Registering a...

Four main types of intellectual property are recognized under U.S. intellectual property law--patents, copyrights, trademarks, and trade secrets. The U.S. government does not claim copyright on...

Copyright law in the United States is designed to protect the intellectual rights of the creator, whether he is a writer, a musician, a filmmaker or any other creative type. Such laws have been...

Every property is owned by some person or entity, even if it's vacant. Even if the property is off the tax rolls, there will still be records noting its address, owner, and assessed value. The...

Patents and trade secrets are two types of intellectual property. The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) defines intellectual property as, "[c]reative works or ideas embodied in a...

The road from having an invention idea to receiving royalties from its sale is long and complex. You must prepare a detailed patent application, obtain international patent protection (involving...

It's a long road from inventing something useful to obtaining royalties from sales of the finished product. Before you earn any profits, you will have to obtain international patent protection,...

Creators of original works have legal copyright protection which gives them the exclusive right to use and publish their original material. Copyright infringement has always been a problem....

Your original document is protected under copyright law automatically from the moment you create it in a tangible form, according to the U.S. Copyright Office. Copyright law provides that the...

Finding out when a copyright expires can be difficult unless you use a commercial company who specializes in finding this information or you pay the Copyright Office to find it for you. You can...

Utility patents pertain to technologies and other man-made inventions. As stated in the patent laws, anyone who "invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or...

When you have an idea for an invention, a work of art or some other form of "intellectual property," you must patent it to protect your financial interest in that property. A patent is an...

Copyright law is an intellectual property law that protects stories, songs, movies, art and other forms of intellectual property. Copyright takes effect as soon as a work is created and is...

Software piracy is the illegal reproduction or distribution of copyrighted software. It is estimated by the Business Business Bureau to cost the US software industry $10 billion a year.

Patent rights protect inventors by excluding the right of others to sell, offering to sell, making or using a patented invention. In regards to protecting the more intangible proprietary...

When making patent drawings, many people use a professional draftsperson. They fear that their own drawings would be inaccurate and would hurt their chances of obtaining the patent. Using a...

With the advent of online publishing comes the advent of stolen online content. For the freelance writer, this can be a huge issue. Not only do your words go missing, but also your potential...

Most Christian music is traditional and old enough as to be sung and played without consent or licensing. For contemporary Christian music under copyright however, you will need to obtain a...

Land is often said to be one of the most important assets in the world. It's also one investment that gets passed down to successive generations, sometimes unknowingly. For those who find out that...