All sourcesEncyclopediaUtility Patents: Protect functional inventions — processes, machines, manufactures, compositions of matter. Duration: 20 years from filing.
Design Patents: Protect ornamental designs of functional items. Duration: 15 years from grant.
Requirements: Novelty (new), non-obviousness (not an obvious improvement), utility (useful), adequate description (enabling disclosure)
Patent Prosecution: Average time from filing to grant is 2-3 years. Cost: $10,000-$20,000+ including attorney fees.
Registration: Federal registration with the USPTO provides nationwide protection
Duration: 10-year terms, renewable indefinitely if the mark continues in use
Strength Spectrum: Fanciful (strongest) > Arbitrary > Suggestive > Descriptive (weak, requires secondary meaning) > Generic (unprotectable)
Infringement Test: Likelihood of confusion — would a reasonable consumer be confused about the source of goods?
Automatic: Protection exists upon creation and fixation in a tangible medium
Registration: Required to file an infringement suit; enables statutory damages ($750-$150,000 per work)
Duration: Life of author + 70 years; works-for-hire: 95 years from publication
Fair Use: Limitations on exclusive rights for purposes such as criticism, commentary, news, teaching, and research
Information that derives economic value from being secret
Protected by the Defend Trade Secrets Act (federal) and state laws (most follow the Uniform Trade Secrets Act)
No registration system — protection depends on maintaining secrecy through NDAs, access restrictions, and employee agreements
Duration: Potentially unlimited, as long as the secret is maintained
Intellectual Property Law: Patents, Trademarks, and Copyrights
Federal & State Law Editorial Team
Comprehensive overview of U.S. intellectual property law covering patents, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets, and enforcement strategies.
Intellectual Property Law
Constitutional Basis
Congress shall have Power to promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries. — Article I, Section 8, Clause 8
Patents
A patent grants the inventor the right to exclude others from making, using, or selling the invention:
Trademarks
A trademark identifies and distinguishes the source of goods or services:
Copyrights
Copyright protects original works of authorship: