| Works of Authorship under the Copyright Act |
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| The Copyright Act uses the phrase "works of authorship" to describe the types of works that are protected by copyright law. This phrase is purposefully broad to avoid the need to rewrite the Copyright Act every time a new "medium" was discovered. Congress included a list of eight works of authorship in the Copyright Act as follows: More... |
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| Copyright Infringement and Plagiarism |
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| A copyright holder has the exclusive rights to reproduce, display, transmit, perform, and modify a work as well as the right to publicly perform a sound recording by digital transmission. There are exemptions in the Copyright Act that provide for certain exceptions to those exclusive rights, many in favor of limited nonprofit educational purposes. If none of the exemptions apply, the proposed use of someone else's copyrighted work will probably be copyright infringement. If proper attribution is required and is missing, the proposed use will also be plagiarism. Copyright laws prohibit plagiarism. More... |
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| Fragrances as Trademark Subject Matter |
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| Distinctive fragrances are eligible for federal trademark registration. The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, in a landmark decision, reversed the Examining Attorney and held that there was no reason why a fragrance was not capable of identifying and distinguishing certain types of products. Thus, the Board allowed registration of an arbitrary, nonfunctional scent for sewing thread and embroidery yarn. More... |
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| Provisional Patent Applications |
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| For many years, there was only one type of patent application, which required the submission of a specification, which is a detailed description of the invention; a claim or claims, which delineate the specific aspects of the invention for which patent protection is sought; any necessary drawings; an oath or declaration that the inventor believes him or herself to be the original and first inventor of the invention; and the filing fee. In 1994, the Uruguay round of negotiations on the General Agreements on Tariffs and Trade, commonly known as "GATT," resulted in the formation of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), to which the United States became a member and signatory, respectively. TRIPS requires that WTO members provide strong intellectual property rights and, in the context of patents, provide foreign inventors with access to their patent systems and the full protection of their patent laws. One important aspect of TRIPS was that a foreign inventor could establish a priority date in other TRIPS-member countries upon the filing of a patent application in his or her own country as long as a regular patent application was filed within the TRIPS-member country within a certain amount of time. More... |
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| Patent Law |
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| To meet the utility requirement, an invention must provide a specific, known use that differs from the prior art, which is the body of information from which it is determined whether an invention is new; speculative or possible future utility is not sufficient. Application requirements set out by the Patent Act provide that the patent applicant describe in detail the invention, how to make it, what it does, and how it is used, which if properly complied with should make it clear what the claimed utility of the invention is. It is not necessary that the use represent an improvement over the prior art; however, to meet the utility requirement, an invention must work as claimed. More... |
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