HOW INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAWYERS HELP PROTECT IP

HOW INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAWYERS HELP PROTECT IP    

Intellectual property lawyers are professionals who are trained and licensed to practice  intellectual property law. Intellectual property lawyer protects the creative works of authors, composers, designers, and inventors from being pirated. There are four basic categories of intellectual property: 

• ·        Copyrights,

• ·        Patents,

• ·        Trademarks,

• ·        Trade secrets,

Generally, each category is used with different types of material and affords different protections. Copyrights protect original works of authorship from the moment they are created and fixed in a tangible form. Patents protect new and useful machines, articles, substances, or processes through exclusive rights granted by the federal government to their inventors. 

Trademarks protect identifying marks that distinguish goods or services, such as names, logos, designs, emblems, and distinctive sounds and smells. Trade secrets protect confidential business information or "proprietary information," such as business plans, chemical formulas, and customer lists.

The main task of most intellectual property attorneys is to help their clients to protect their rights. This usually means helping them to apply for a patent or a copyright or whatever other protection is appropriate. In order to do this it is necessary to do a search to see if something similar has already been protected, if it has an IP lawyer may be able to offer advice on how to get around this.

Another major aspect of the work of an IP lawyer is to help companies to avoid infringing on a patent or copyright that somebody else has. This is actually fairly common when it comes to patents as many times when a company designs something that find that somebody has already got a similar patent. It may be possible to get around this by making your product different enough; an IP attorney can help the company to determine if they can do this and how.

The intellectual property lawyers work for their clients to give them legal protection and advice related to all four broad categories mentioned above.

• Trademarks
  A trademark can be a logo, name, symbol, or device used to differentiate a product or service of one trader (or commercial entity) from that of another-brand identity. Example: McDonalds' golden arches. Trademark protection lasts for 10 years after registration, and is renewable.  
• Patents
  A patent is the grant of right to exclude others from making, using, selling, or importing an invention or discovery, including new and improved products and processes. Patents can be registered in foreign countries, last for 20 years and are renewable. But, if the patent expires, the exclusive rights to make, use, sell or import the invention or discovery is lost.  
• Trade Secrets
  Trade secrets (covered by state rather than federal laws) include formulas, patterns, device or any compilation of data that gives a company a tangible advantage over its competitors (e.g., Coca Cola's formula for its soft drink).  
• Copyright
  A copyright is protection granted to authors of original authorship such as literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works, and computer software, as well as performing artists in their performances, producers of phonograms in their recordings, and broadcasters in their radio and television programs. Example: The creators of your favorite music CD, movie, or computer game have a copyright on their work. Copyrights last for the life of an author plus 50 years.

      Intellectual Property Attorney, Intellectual Property Lawyer