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The basics of intellectual property law covered with concise explanations and easy to understand advice. Musicians, writers and other creative artists will find in-depth coverage of copyright law, while inventors can benefit from articles like how to choose a trademark and how to file for its registration. Is someone posting your music online without your permission? Or capitalizing on a process or product you created? Learn how to protect yourself from Internet copyright violation, and research the basics of enforcing a patent, with help from eHow's legal experts.
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Learn what buckets of intellectual property whether patent, trademark or copyright can help protect your website or e-commerce solution
Learn what buckets of intellectual property whether patent, trademark or copyright can help protect your product invention.
If you have an outstanding original idea for a line of T-shirts or other apparel that you hope to market for profit, you need to protect your design from theft by others. This is true for any...
Patents are designed to protect inventors for having their inventions duplicated and used to make profits by others. This legal protection can be acquired by filing for patents through the U.S....
Patents are issued by the United States government as an exchange of limited protection from invention duplication for information disclosure. Patent databases are maintained by the United States...
Once you’ve developed your product or service and given it a name, your next step is to trademark it. A trademark protects your name, logo, and/or design, and protects you if infringement occurs....
A patent is a set of rights that an individual can apply for to protect an invention they created in exchange for making the invention public, typically through production. Anyone with a unique...
The United States Patent and Trademark Office oversees the issuing of patents, which are used to protect inventors from forgery of their inventions being passed off as those of others. Patent...
So you've come up with a unique idea for a board game? Congratulations! Before you put your game into production, it's critical that you protect your intellectual property. In addition to...
A service mark is like a trademark, except that it is associated with a service instead of a product. It is a logo, design, word, name, symbol or device (or combination thereof) that identifies a...
Trademarks, copyrights, and patents are all legal ways for individuals and companies to protect their valuable property. While this does not include real estate, this property may be wording,...
A registered trademark is the means by which people and companies protect their names, logos, and other elements used in the identification of a business. The registered trademark is accompanied...
If you are an inventor by trade or simply believe that you have a great idea, one important part of the creative process is attempting to determine whether your idea has already been produced by...
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...
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...
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...
Applying for a patent doesn't require a lawyer, but you should be prepared for some work and some expense. It can take years to be granted a patent and cost as much as $1,500.
A patent is a form of intellectual property where a government grants an inventor exclusive rights to use, sell and manufacture and profit from his invention for a specific period of time.
In the high-tech world of intellectual property, it can be easy to forget one of the central purposes of patents. Originally, the patent system was designed not only to encourage innovation, but...
Trademark and copyright laws are legal devices designed to allow creators to protect the exclusive use of their creations. Trademark laws essentially protect product reputation and business...
There is often confusion between copyright, trademark and patent. A copyright is for intellectual property, such as songs, books, movies and art. A patent protects inventions. A trademark protects...
You may hear the term Intellectual Property or the acronym IP. Intellectual Property rights provide protection for creations of the mind. More specifically, they grant the creators/owners...
A copyright is a set of legally enforceable rights protecting an original work of authorship. A trademark is a set of legally enforceable rights protecting a design, symbol, phrase or word (or...
Copyrights and trademarks, along with patents, make up a field of law known as "intellectual property," so called because they protect ideas and expressions rather than physical property....
So far in China, there are no explicit laws and regulations on the intellectual property protection of the exhibitors or designers, and exhibition industry has not formed a national association...
An inventor may use the mark "patent pending" even before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issues a patent. However, there are limited circumstances when inventors may legally use "patent...
Obtaining a patent for original crafts requires a design patent. These patents are intended to protect the designer from other individuals copying the design and using it for monetary gains....
A patent is a property right for an idea or invention, granted by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. A patent protects the patent owner in that only the owner has the exclusive right to...
The federal Patent Act (Title 35 of the United States Code) governs all aspects of law that can be applied to patentable inventions. While some might see this body of statute as contemporary law...
There are three kinds of intellectual property: trademark; copyright; and patent. A trademark is defined as a legal protection of a word, name, symbol, color or sound that needs protection and...
A logo is a company's or organization's most recognizable mark. While it would be tempting for people to use famous logos in various ways, they are protected by copyright laws.
When researchers make discoveries that are both unique and significant, they seek patent protection from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Established in 1802, the office today issues...
Coming up with an idea for a new invention can be a highly rewarding process. Once you have a new invention or an idea for an invention, it is important to register the invention so that your...
Before you trademark something that you're making or selling--or that you intend to produce sometime in the future--you must register your trademark with the United States Patent & Trademark...
A patent is a grant from the government that gives an inventor exclusive rights to benefit from an invention for a limited time. A software patent is a patent on any performance of a computer...
So you have an idea you believe could change the world . . . or at least make someone's life a little easier, while making you some money. The question is, how does the idea get to the drawing...
A trademark is a unique indicator that identifies an individual, business or other legal entity. A trademark can be a design, a slogan, a name such as "Betty Crocker," a shape like McDonald's...
A service mark is legally similar to a trademark. While a trademark is used for a product, a service mark is used for a service. They serve a different function, but registration of both are...
A trademark protects words, names, symbols, sounds or colors that distinguish your goods from similar goods made and sold by other people. A trademark also identifies goods as having a source of...
Whether you're a bio-medical engineer, medical practitioner, inventor or part-time innovator of new ideas, there comes a time when producing innovations for someone else's company or firm is...
There is some confusion about copyright laws and how they pertain to copyrighting names and ideas. A copyright is meant to protect intellectual property that includes the creation of literary,...
A trademark is a word, symbol or device used to indicate the origin, quality and ownership of a product or service. The purpose of a trademark is to associate one's goods or services with a...
Trademarks, also known as "marks," serve two functions: to provide assurance to consumers that goods are of a certain quality and consistency, and to assist consumers in making informed purchases....
A trademark is a word, name or symbol, or device used to indicate the origin, quality and ownership of a product or service. The purpose of using a trademark is to associate one's goods or...
Starting off, it is not legally possible to copyright a phrase. Copyright protection is assigned to longer works where authorship is established on a complete creative endeavor. Songs and poetry...
According to the U.S. Copyright Office, slogans cannot be copyrighted. Copyrights are only intended to protect literary, artistic, musical and dramatic works, not titles, slogans or short phrases....
Registering a trademark can be a long and expensive process. While it is wise to use an attorney, you do not have to. If you are ready to research and are capable of filling out paperwork very...
Patenting a recipe is much like patenting any invention; however, there are a few steps that make it unique. The steps to obtain a patent must be taken correctly and proactively. A patent can take...
Coats of arms were used by ancient families of noble descent as an identifying mark and symbol. Despite some sources that might suggest otherwise, coats of arms are not linked to a particular name...
A copyright is a form of intellectual property law that protects your tangible, creative works, published or unpublished. A copyright means that you control how and to whom your works are distributed.