| Restoration from Public Domain |
| A provision for the restoration of foreign works from public domain status in the United States was included in the 1994 Uruguay Round Agreements Act. The provision went into effect on January 1, 1996, and applies to members of the Berne Convention, members of the World Trade Organization, and countries specifically extended protection by presidential proclamations.More... |
| Generic Names as Trademark Subject Matter |
| A generic name is the common descriptive name of the product a trademark identifies. Generic names may not be protected under trademark laws. The intended trademark cannot be registered and the owner has no right to stop others from using a similar mark. Unlike descriptive marks, generic devices will not become a trademark even if they are advertised so heavily that secondary meaning can be proven in the mind of consumers. The rationale for creating the category of generic marks is that no manufacturer or service provider should be given exclusive right to use words that generically identify a product. Therefore, if a company attempts to use the name of the goods themselves, such as "Lemonade" for a lemonade drink or "Bicycle" for a bicycle, that name will not be protected because it is generic. More... |
| Plant Patents |
| Under United States patent law, a patent may be obtained for mutations, hybrids, seedlings, and sports of known, cultivated plants. A sport is a new type of growth on a known plant such as a flower of a different color than is usual for that plant or a different growth pattern in the plant's branches or stems. If a new plant is not the result of breeding efforts but rather originated from a seedling that was discovered, the environment and conditions must be described to establish that the plant was found in an area of cultivated plants and not in the wild. A wholly new plant discovered in the wild may not be patented. In order for a new plant to be patented, it must have at least one significant and distinguishable characteristic that differs from existing varieties of the plant. Plants that are reproduced through their tubers, such as the Irish potato and Jerusalem artichokes, are specifically designated by the patent statute as ineligible for a plant patent.More... |
| Copyrights and Fair Use |
| A copyright is a property right granted by federal law to authors or creators of original works such as writings, art, music and sound recordings, performances, photographs, movies, and the like. The copyright holder has the exclusive right to reproduce or copy the work, distribute or sell the work, or perform or display the work publicly. The copyright holder may also authorize others to use the work in those same ways.More... |
| Patents |
| In order to encourage the advancement of science and technology, the federal government gives an incentive to inventors to disclose new ideas that have been embodied in inventions by granting a patent, which is a temporary right to exclude others from making, using, selling, offering to sell, or importing the patented invention without the inventor's permission. Activity that encroaches upon the right given by a patent is said to infringe the patent, for which an inventor may bring a lawsuit in order to obtain a remedy. More... |
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