The States Patent and Trademark Office registers what is called trademark. The term trademark actually means an image, device, or a word which identifies itself with a product made by a certain company. Each company has a unique trademark.
When people what to protect something they wrote, designed or any other form of creativity, they can use the copyright laws. Everything can be protected as long as it is real: from songs, movies, and writings to HTML coding or designs. The copyright ensures that you have the right to use it, see it, perform it and reproduce the product without limitations.
A patent is another form of IP (intellectual property). The right of a patent in the United States is granted by the USPTO (United States Patent and Trademark Office) to the inventors. This is to prevent others from using, making, selling, importing, or offering sales of such invention over a limited period of time. The law concerning the United States patent is stated in the Patent Act, 35 U.S.C. The act contains clarifications on using jargons resolving some confusion and complexity.
There are subjects which are not given patent protection. It includes mental processes, physical phenomena, abstract ideas, and nature laws. Take for instance; you can’t patent a new plant, insect, or mineral found or discovered in the wilderness. Likewise, the law of gravity couldn’t have patented by Newton and “E=mC2″ by Einstein. Any discovery which shows characteristics of nature is not reserved for a single person since it is free to all. Nature laws and abstract ideas are reserved for public domain. Artistic, musical, dramatic, or literary works are entitled for copyright protection. Inventions which are offensive and not useful are deprived of a patent right.
The patent law is created to serve various purposes. It is found in the U.S. Constitution, Clause 8 of Section 8 of Article I stating the power of the Congress to support the advancement of useful arts and science by giving exclusive rights to inventors and authors on their discoveries and writings over a limited period of time. Thus, a patent system was created by the Congress to reward limited monopolies to the inventors on making, selling, and using their inventions.
The patented inventions can be displayed in public, however, this doesn’t mean that they are allowed to be copied and distributed by other people. When trying to obtain full rights on your invention, you have to make sure that it fits the usage standards, otherwise you main not obtain full rights.
It is a fact that mental processes and abstract ideas are not eligible for patented rights. However, the software based on mathematical algorithms receives patent protection because it does not belong on the patent scopes. Algorithm is considered as a natural law while mathematics is the primary working tool of science and technology. The Supreme Court in 1981 included inventions related to software in the patent protection. It is because the function of the program only incorporates the underlying principles of mathematical algorithms. Non-physical processes are utilized by the software to operate electronically using mathematical equations or algorithms for controlling the computer program outputs. Functional application of mathematical algorithms in computer programs can be patented. Using examples from electricity or physics are not patentable. However, the methods in which electricity are utilized for transmitting information is patentable.
Only unique ideas or new useful inventions can obtain protection. Unless the invention is easily applicable and has a well served purpose, it will not fit the requirements in order to be protected. Also, inventions that are too obvious will have the same fate. Inventions which were sold before being registered will not qualify, when trying to obtain copyright. People who invent the same thing in different parts of the world cannot obtain protection rights easily.
In general, the patent claims contain the preamble or the introductory paragraph. It is followed by the elements recited as steps or means to perform a specific function. The elements can be narrowly interpreted by structure, name, or defined steps. The defenses of a patent to infringement include invalidity and non-infringement.
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