Rule of Law

I began with a piece of paper, pen, and my cell phone. The time for the project due date was coming at me at a fast rate. I tried to ask around for anyone who knew a lawyer I could chat with. All of the responses I received were about how they didn't want to bug the person, or they hardly talked to the person anymore so they didn't want to let me have their info. I decided to just bite the bullet and sit down and call random lawyers that I have researched. The first lawyer I called was John Lambersten. He seemed really friendly and had acted like he wanted to actually talk. I decided to quickly ask questions before he decided to change his mind. I asked him if there was more than one type of intellectual property protection. He had started to list the types starting with patents, copyrights, trademarks, industrial design rights, trade dress, and trade secrets. “A patent is a grant by the government permitting the inventor exclusive use of an invention for 20 years from the date of filing.” Beatty, J.J., & Samuelson, S.S. (2012) Introduction to Business Law, 4th Ed. South Western College Pub. Pg.502. “A trademark is any combination of words and symbols that a business uses to identify its products or services and distinguish them from others.“ Beatty, J.J., & Samuelson, S.S. (2012) Introduction to Business Law, 4th Ed. South Western College Pub. Pg.509. The phone then went dead. I had lost connection. This made me worried knowing that this was my chance to finally get this project done and get the stress off of my shoulders. I proceeded to call him back. No answer. I then decided why not call a couple more. After the next 2 not getting an answer, I then called Ed Chansky. I had successfully asked the rest of my questions. He did not seem happy to answer these questions. He really seemed like he just wanted to get it over with. He had a little sarcasm behind his voice throughout the process. He even questioned my motives for asking my questions. I told him that it was for a school project to help me learn more about intellectual property. He insisted I was up to something, but continued to answer anyway. My second question was how original does my work have to be for it to be considered my own. I then started to have trouble writing down the answers as fast as he spoke. I was too nervous to ask him to slow down as I knew I was on his time and was worried he would hang up on me. He told me that it really depends on how much you change the work. If it appears to be someone else's work, then it most likely is. As long as you can make it appear to be your own and original you might be fine. “Because the period of copyright protection is so long, it has become even more important to uphold the exceptions to the law. Bear in mind that the point of copyright laws is to encourage creative work. A writer who can control, and profit from, artistic work will be inclined to produce more. If enforced oppressively, however, the copyright laws could stifle creativity by denying access to copyrighted work.” Beatty, J.J., & Samuelson, S.S. (2012) Introduction to Business Law, 4th Ed. South Western College Pub. Pg.507. I then asked if I could protect multiple pieces of work with one registration. He told me that it depends on if the work is in a set or series like a newspaper. If it is than you can register that series once. I asked if I was planning to register my intellectual property, where does he recommend I go? He told me it pretty much depends on what type of registration I need. If I need a copyright, I go to a government copyright website.”To obtain a patent, the inventor must file a complex application with the PTO. If a patent examiner determines that the application meets all legal requirements, the PTO will issue the patent. If an examiner denies a patent application for any reason, the inventor can appeal that decision to the Patent Trial and Appeal Board in the PTO and from there to the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington. “ Beatty, J.J., & Samuelson, S.S. (2012) Introduction to Business Law, 4th Ed. South Western College Pub. Pg.504. I asked are there ways to protect your work without needing paperwork? He said you don't need a a copyright at all for it to be copyrighted and yours, but if you think you need to begin legal actions in the future to show proof, then you would have to go get it done the legal “paperwork” way. A work is copyrighted automatically once it is in tangible form. Beatty, J.J., & Samuelson, S.S. (2012) Introduction to Business Law, 4th Ed. South Western College Pub. Pg.506. I had asked if you can patent a specific idea for an application for a phone. He said since it is a computer program it depends if it us useful or novel, if needed its determined by the copyright persons.”Novel. An invention is not patentable if it (1) is known or has already been used in this country; (2) has been described in a publication here or overseas or (3) is otherwise available to the public. For example, an inventor discovered a new use for existing chemical compounds but was not permitted to patent it because the chemicals had already been described in prior publications, though the new use had not.” Beatty, J.J., & Samuelson, S.S. (2012) Introduction to Business Law, 4th Ed. South Western College Pub. Pg.503 “The holder of a copyright owns the particular expression of an idea, but not the underlying idea or method of operation. “ Beatty, J.J., & Samuelson, S.S. (2012) Introduction to Business Law, 4th Ed. South Western College Pub. Pg.506. I had asked him how long a copyright would last. He pretty much told me its usually your life +70 years. I then asked, after contacting a lawyer about someone stealing your work, what is the next step for me. This is when he questioned me about why I was really contacting him. I could understand his suspicion. I was trying to hold back a laugh at this point. He answered that there is still a 90 day grace period on the piece and I could go get it registered asap, but other than that get a lawyer and start the legal process. I then asked what right I had as the legal registration owner. He said that he had to look this one up as he couldn’t really explain it off the top of his head. He told me I should have the right to distribute the work, make unlimited copies, use the work publicly, or reproduce it. “In 2011 Congress passed a new patent statute entitled “America Invents Act.” Under this statute, anyone who has been charged with infringement of certain financial service business method patents will have the right (from 2012 to 2020) to challenge the validity of that patent.” Beatty, J.J., & Samuelson, S.S. (2012) Introduction to Business Law, 4th Ed. South Western College Pub. Pg.503.

The last question I decided to ask him was if my registration on my work was recognized all over the world, or just in the area I chose to register it in. He told me that its for in your own country or in any country in treaty with this country. The copy right can also be transferred onto another country using their copyright laws. “Under the Paris Convention, if someone registers a trademark in one country, then he has a grace period of six months during which he can file in any other country using the same original filing date.” Beatty, J.J., & Samuelson, S.S. (2012) Introduction to Business Law, 4th Ed. South Western College Pub. Pg.512.

“The Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) is a step toward providing more coordinated patent review across many countries. Inventors who pay a fee and file a so-called PCT patent application are granted patent protection in the 143 PCT countries for up to 30 months. During this time, they can decide how many countries they actually want to file in.” Beatty, J.J., & Samuelson, S.S. (2012) Introduction to Business Law, 4th Ed. South Western College Pub. Pg.506.