Dan McGuire

Trademark

I am going to go out on a limb, and assume that trademark is fairly low on people’s hierarchy of interest. Most people don’t spend a lot of time worrying about the intricacies of trademark law during their daily activities.

There is a small irony in this, as we rely extensively on trademark law during our daily activities. Look around right now – I am willing to bet you can see at least TEN trademarks.

A trademark is a graphic, name or phrase which identifies a business and it’s products.

A trademark is obviously highly valued by the companies that own them – ‘Coca-Cola’, ‘Nike’ or ‘Chevrolet’ are all very recognizable names, which is clearly an advantage in the market.

Trademark is also an advantage to consumers. There is some degree of certainty that when a product has a given trademark on it, that the product will meet certain standards. These don’t have to be high standards, rather it’s the fact that consumers have an idea of what they will be receiving. At one of the local supermarkets, they sell ‘No Name’ brand products. The ‘No Name’ trademark identifies the products as suitable substitutes for the equivalent brand name product, but the expectation is that the price and quality will be lower.

So how important is Trademark in Post Secondary Education?

I have to thank one of my collegues, Sandra McKenzie for bringing the plight of the black-footed ferrets to my attention.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/94543/page/1

After reading this article, i am keeping my on those liitle weasels!!

Some more reading...

http://www.inc.com/magazine/19971201/1374.html

This article gives a brief overview of the David vs Goliath legal cases, where individual inventors went toe-to-toe with corporations - and won.

What do you think motivated these inventors through these legal cases?

Patent

Invent a better mousetrap, and the world will beat a path to your door.

Sounds like a good plan – a quick search on Google for ‘better mousetrap’ returns just over 200,000 hits http://www.google.com/search?q=better+mouse+trap&rls=com.microsoft:en-ca:IE-SearchBox&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=ie7

So what do you do if your idea really does result in something useful? We’ve already discussed the concept of ownership of ideas, the idea itself is yours as long as you keep it to yourself. If you want to do something with that idea, chances are you’ll be looking at a patent to identify it as yours.

Patent is the legal protection afforded to inventions and innovations. Patent applies to things, or more specifically the way those things are made or work. A Patent provides the patent owner with a monopoly over the manufacture and sale of the device described by the patent. Patents may also be applied to methods of manufacturing or creating objects, Recently patents have been used to protect more esoteric things such as ‘business practices’

Obtaining a patent is not a simple process. In some cases, the legal fees paid to patent a device may be the largest portion of the development costs. Another challenge for patent owners – they may be considered an asset by the tax man, resulting in annual costs to maintain them.

There is a fundamental exchange between society and the inventor when a patent is granted. When applying for a patent, the applicant must reveal the details of how a works and how it is made. Once the application is filed this information becomes part of the public record. This means that for any patented device the general public, including any potential competitors, are able to look up exactly how that device works. Once the term of the patent has expired, other manufacturers are free to use the information to manufacture competing devices.

For an entertaining look at patents, have a look at these web sites:

Totally absurd Patents: http://www.totallyabsurd.com/

Crazy Patents: http://www.crazypatents.com/

Could an instructional method be patented?

If so what would need to be done to do so?

Types of Intellectual Property

When we look at physical property, we can all recognize the variety of ‘properties’. Real Estate is substantially different from the stuff found in the kitchen ‘junk drawer’. Intellectual Property has a similar variety of types, differentiated by what is protected, how it is protected and how it ‘becomes’ property.

Ideas We all own our ideas. As long as those ideas are kept in my head, no one but myself can do anything with them. Of course it is hard to do anything if we keep those ideas locked up.

Patents are legal registrations that protect useful objects. Patents apply to such things as the can opener in the junk drawer, the electronics in your DVD player.

Trademarks for some businesses, trademarks may be the most valuable ‘property’ they posses. A trademark is a unique name, symbol or combination of the two that identifies a company and its products. McDonalds may refer to the neighbor’s house – but most of us recognize McDonalds as the name of a restaurant because, combined with the ‘golden arches’ it has been registered as a trademark.

Trade Secret Does anyone know the formulae for Coca-Cola? I assume the people making Coca-Cola do, not many people outside the company do though. That formula is protected as a ‘trade secret’. There are legal consequences if an employee of Coca-Cola were to disclose that secret.

Copyright is probably the largest area of intellectual property. Copyright protects the expression of creative ideas. Prose, Poetry, Lyrics, Music, Dance, Paintings, and Sculptures – essentially anything that can be described as creative is protected by copyright. Not many people hold a patent, own a trademark or harbor a trade secret – but a very large number of people own the copyright on something!

Can anyone think of another example of Intellectual Property?

What about information?