Intellectual Property News

May 2005 Newsletter

Protecting Pharmaceuticals Patents
Strong patent protection for pharmaceuticals drives medical progress by providing economic incentives for innovation. Patents provide the patent owner with the legal means to prevent others from making, using, or selling the new invention for a limited period of time, subject to a number of exceptions. Patents only gives an inventor the right to prevent others from using the patented invention. A patent says nothing about whether the product is safe for consumers and whether it can be supplied. Patented pharmaceuticals still have to go through rigorous testing and approval before they can be put on the market. More...

Using Patents to Protect Ornamental Objects
A design patent protects the ornamental features of a manufactured article. One of the requirements that an ornamental design must meet in order to qualify for a design patent, is that it must be original to the inventor or inventors that are seeking protection. The design patent statute is found in Title 35 of the United States Code. The first part of Section 171 imposes four requirements for design patentability: novelty, originality, ornamentality, subject matter that is an article of manufacture. The originality requirement excludes from patentability any simulation of known objects, persons or naturally occurring forms. The originality requirement also bars issuance of a design patent for a design derived from any source or person other than the individuals named as inventors. More...

Trademark Protection against Consumer Confusion
Prevention of consumer confusion is the underlying rational for allowing companies to protect their brand names and company goodwill. However, Trademark law seeks to proactively prevent consumer confusion, and thus it does not require proof of actual consumer confusion in order for infringement of another company's trademark to occur. All that is necessary is that the trademark owner prove that a hypothetical, "reasonably prudent" consumer would likely be confused by the use of the same or a similar trademark on potentially competing products. The hypothetical purchaser is not expected to make detailed, side-by-side comparisons or to have perfect recall. f More...

Trademark Protection under State Common laws
Trademark rights arise in the United States from the actual use of the mark. Thus, if a product is sold under a brand name, common law trademark rights have been created. This is especially true once consumers view the brand name as an indicator the product's source. Common law marks are marks protected because they have been adopted and used, and the public recognizes the products or services identified by the mark as coming from a particular source. The term "common law" indicates that the trademark rights that are developed through use are not governed by statute. Instead, common law trademark rights have been developed under a judicially created scheme of rights governed by state law. More...

Protecting Proprietary Information with Trade Secrets
One way to protect proprietary information is as a trade secret. However, in order to benefit from any laws which protect such information, it is critical to provide adequate measures to safeguard the trade secrets. In order for a trade secret litigant to secure court assistance in any jurisdiction so that its rights may be enforced, there is a fundamental requirement that the litigant must prove that it exercised reasonable safeguards to protect secrecy. More...

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