Intellectual Property Law

A patent is an exclusive right given to an inventor or a corporation allowing them to prohibit others from the sale and reproduction of their invention or any invention too similar to that of the...

Patent infringement is the act of interfering with an individual's or entity's ("patent holder") exclusive rights to the invention of a product (whether tangible or intangible), process, idea or...

You cannot patent a book. A book is copyrighted the moment it is created. The owner of the copyright is the creator of the work, unless he or she transfers the copyright. It isn't necessary to...

Requesting a patent could not be easier. Anyone with internet access can have immediate patent information. It is always a good idea to search all of the patent databases prior to applying for a...

Patent pending is an everyday term that refers to the legal filing of a "provisional patent application" with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). A provisional patent...

The United States Patent and Trademark Office grants patents for inventions. The inventor receives a property right that is generally valid for 20 years from the date the inventor filed the patent...

Many people have had innovative ideas---perhaps you've even seen an idea you've had marketed on TV by someone else. If only you would have patented the idea, you might have been a millionaire by...

While copyright laws for film are the same as copyright laws for any intellectual property, understanding the way those laws are applied to film can be a little trickier than with other forms of...

A patent is an exclusive right given to a corporation or someone for an invention, allowing them to bar others from producing, making or selling the patented invention. A patent also allows the...

Copyright infringement is the act of using someone else's copyright work, in whole or in part, without the copyright holder's permission. It is a serious offense, for which one could be sued for...

Patents on inventions are administered by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. An inventor can be granted a patent by the U.S. government "to exclude others from making, using, offering...

Copyrighting original music is very important to many artist, and musicians. This is how to copyright your original music.

Mandatory patent licensing of technology occurs in a variety of circumstances and is also referred to as compulsory licensing. This is an exception to the primary purpose of patent laws of...

Due to the complexity of patent laws, proving that an individual or company has stolen your idea or invention can be challenging. However, if you take appropriate steps to prepare a case against...

The Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) was concluded in 1970 to harmonize and unify the initial stages of the patent application process, and to make it easier for patent applicants to obtain...

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) was passed by the U.S. Congress in 1998. One of its provisions forbids the circumvention of technological anti-piracy measures built into commercial...

Digital resell rights are a type of rights granted by copyright license agreement. These rights allow the buyer to sell copies of the product to third parties, an act that would be prohibited by...

Resell rights, also known as resale rights, are a type of copyright license typically used to sell e-books on the Internet. There are five major forms of resell rights: standard resell rights,...

U.S. patent law provides that the process, act or method by which something is made is patentable. This did not include business methods until a 1988 Supreme Court decision cleared the way for the...

The term "manga" derives from Japanese and is loosely used to refer to the special style of comics produced by Japanese artists. There are no copyright laws that apply exclusively to manga comics....

Intellectual copyright (or simply "copyright"), a type of intellectual property law, refers to the protection of original published and unpublished "works of authorship" by federal law of the...

Patents are used to protect inventors from others duplicating and selling their protected ideas or products. According to United States law, any person who "invents or discovers any new and useful...

A design patent is a legal right to have a monopoly on an idea, at least for first 14 years. Patents are issued by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO). A legal monopoly is a very powerful...

A patent is a valuable form of protection for intellectual property rights. The patent owner can exclude competitors from making, using, selling or offering to sell his invention in the United...

As BitTorrent gains greater prominence on the Internet, questions about the laws concerning BitTorrent are surely to rise. BitTorrent is a protocol of file transfer, meaning any laws must balance...

Oral contracts do carry legal weight. Courts enforce them when they can. The problem they face is deciding which version of the verbal agreement to uphold. Copyright cases in this respect can...

Company Registration India is the procedure of registering a company in India, which makes your business successful and efficient. Company registration companies in India provide company...

An individual's private email is protected by federal law from access by both the government and third parties, including Internet Service Providers, unless the person owning the email account has...

Patents represent legal rights that protect inventions. As a patent holder, you can allow or prohibit your invention to be produced, utilized or sold. To obtain a patent, you must disclose...

Section 45 of the Lanham Act defines a trademark as “any word, name, symbol, or device, or combination thereof … used by a person … to identify and distinguish his or her goods, including a unique...

Authors make clear their exclusive ownership rights in written works by writing a copyright statement. The statement announces the owner's exclusive rights to prevent unauthorized uses by others....

Trademarking a domain name is an effective way of protecting your business or brand on the internet. By taking the time to obtain the rights to your specific domain name you'll have an...

Patent attorneys are not just lawyers, but lawyers who have specialized in the highly complex field of intellectual property and patent law. Because patent attorneys generally have advanced...

Setting out to invent something useful is a great way to better the world and earn money at the same time. With so many problems that need solutions there is a virtually unlimited amount of ideas...

Confidentiality agreements are also known as nondisclosure agreements. They are a type of contract designed to prevent parties from divulging private information. Companies commonly employ...

A patent is the type of legal protection granted to inventors to secure their intellectual property rights for their work. The authority for granting patents is stated in Article 1, Section 8 of...

Sometimes you will come across a wizz-bang item that you just can't take your eyes off of. It might be a water filter, a mouse, a screwdriver with an odd fitting. It doesn't matter. Chances are...

Article 1, section 8 of the United State Constitution charges the government with the responsibility of protecting inventors and their inventions. The United State Patent and Trademark Office...

Copyright laws exist to protect the creative works of writers, filmmakers, sculptors, furniture designers, and any other type of artist. According to the United States Copyright Office, the 1976...

While most copyright infringements fall under the jurisdiction of civil law in the United States, in the early 1990s it became a felony to make more than 10 copies of a copyrighted item or the...

While copyright law regarding written material, films and photographs has long been established, the field of software copyright is a relatively new area. Software copyright is used by individuals...

Copyright protects intellectual property from being used without the copyright owner's permission or compensation. Violation of the copyright law is punishable by jail time and fines. Any original...

A patent agent helps inventors who aren't sure how to navigate the complex patent application process.

Some people think copyright laws don't hold as much weight on the Internet as they do in the traditional printed world. They're wrong. Copyright laws apply equally to publishing on the Web as they...

A patent is a set of exclusive legal rights granted to an inventor by a government (or regional authority as in the case of the European Union) for a set period of time that prevents others from...

You have created an original work, and want to protect your creation with a copyright. Works that can be copyrighted include: books, articles, staged works, music and lyrics, films, broadcasts,...

In the United States copyrights have generally been governed by federal law. Title 17 of the U.S. Code, sometimes known as the Copyright Act of 1976 (the "Copyright Act"), is the most important...

Land patents may seem like an archaic and complicated topic; however, by educating yourself, you could protect your property and yourself from anyone contesting your rights in the future. A land...

Currently, almost every computer comes equipped with the ability to burn DVDs. This coupled with the popularity of rent-by-mail companies such as Netflix and Blockbuster has caused many to wonder...

A trademark is any word, name, symbol, slogan, design or combination of such devices that identifies or distinguishes a specific brand or product in the market place. A trademark is used not only...