In talking to Mr. Van Looper I asked him to confirm answers on some general questions about intellectual property. Intellectual property (as defined in our text Patent, Copyright, & Trademark the 11th edition on page 4 published by NOLO ) refers to product of the human intellect that have commercial value and that receive legal protection. Our text further states that typically, intellectual property encompasses creative works, products, processes, imagery, inventions and services and is protected by patent, copyright, trademark, or trade secret law. In the past few weeks I decided to change my major from interior design to graphic design. So I got confirmation on my questions with that in mind also I stuck to general questions because I said I was a law student..lol. These questions and answers are direct from the website http://www.whglawfirm.com/ and I feel are relevant to my future occupation.
How do I know what form of intellectual property protection is available for my work?
A: The form of protection depends on the work. Generally, you should seek a trademark for a name, symbol or other device that distinguishes your product. Apply for a patent if you have made an invention or discovery that is new, non-obvious and useful. If you have produced an original work of authorship in a tangible medium of expression, such as a book, computer program, visual artwork or motion picture, copyright is the appropriate protection. Information that you keep confidential for the health of your business, such as a formula or source code, may find protection as a trade secret
How "original" does my work have to be to merit copyright protection?
A: Although the work must originate with you in order to be eligible for protection, it need not be pioneering to earn a copyright. The level of originality required for a copyright is met if the expression is new to author, regardless of whether someone else had a similar idea before. If you coincidentally write the same poem as someone halfway around the world, you both have the right to exclude others from copying your poems. If you copy someone else's poem, however, you have no copyright protection.
How do I know if I can protect my business information as a trade secret?
A: Confidential information is likely to be protected as a trade secret if, by virtue of being secret, it is valuable to the business that owns it and if the owner takes reasonable measures to protect the secret under the circumstances.
How much of my work is protected under a copyright?
A: A copyright protects only your expression — not the idea that underlies the expression. A biology textbook, therefore, may receive a lower degree of copyright protection than a work of fiction, because the expression in the textbook is constrained by the factual nature of scientific language. By providing only protection for expression and not for ideas, copyright law encourages authors to freely exchange and express information and ideas.
How can I prove that there has been an infringement on my copyright?
A: If the allegedly infringing work is substantially similar to yours and your work was accessible to others (through publication, for example), you may be able to show that the defendant copied your work. This is a fact-dependent issue. If the defendant independently produced the allegedly infringing work, however, without knowledge of either the existence or the content of your prior work, then the defendant may be able to show that it did not copy your work.
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