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Intellectual Property is known to be the literary and artistic, designs and symbols that are created by human mind. When you start a business, how to protect your intellectual property (IP) is always a major concern. IP is protected by law so that one can earn recognition along with the financial benefits from their own creation.

Recently it has been noticed that it has become extremely important to focus on the awareness of intellectual properties among the startup communities, in order to identify and protect all the intangible assets of a company. But there is also some strength and weakness of IP assets like the trademark, patent law, and copyright.

Strengths and Weaknesses of Intel

Copyright Law:

Strengths-

1. Protects “creative work” from being used by other people without permission. If they do, legal action can take place against them.
2. Copyrights last the lifetime of the author plus 70 years.
3. Copyright can be enforced in other industrialized countries because of the GATT treaty.

Weaknesses-

1. If you create something as an employee, your employer owns the copyright for that product or idea.
2. People can legally infringe upon your copyright if it is considered “fair use.” Fair use is for things like research, scholarship, criticism, and journalism.
3. Infringers have multiple defenses that they can use if they are brought to court. They can challenge the copyright itself, they can say they didn’t know it was copyrighted, or they can say it was fair use.

Patent Law:

Strengths-

1. Inventors may file a Provisional Patent Application to protect a patentable invention before it is complete.
2. Owners of a patent may bring a patent infringement suit on anyone who uses the invention without permission. Courts can lay down injunctions and award damages to the patent owner.
3. Due to the Patent Cooperation Treaty and the Paris Convention, inventors can receive patent protection in other countries by filling applications and paying fees in a timely fashion.

Weaknesses-

1. When a patent infringement suit is filled, the accused often sets out to demonstrate the patent is invalid. There are many different ways for accused to do this such as proving the invention was not novel or non-obvious.
2. Patents last only 20 years (14 years for design patents), and once they expire the inventor has no legal protection over the invention because it has fallen into public domain.
3. Patents take 1 to 3 years to become approved. A patent examiner is assigned to each application and the examiner decides whether the patent meets technical requirements and whether it is novel and non-obvious.

Trademark Law:

Strengths-

1. Trademarks are owned by the first person to use them. Once they are established, a company can file an Intent-to-use application with the PTO.
2. Anyone who initiates the use of the same or a confusingly similar mark will be presumed by the courts to be a “willful infringer.”
3. It is possible to obtain basic protection for a mark from federal courts under the Latham Act without prior registration.

Weaknesses-

1 If a trademark has been registered with the PTO and has not put the ® on a mark, then it can be handicapped when filing a lawsuit against an infringer.

2 Trademark law cannot protect nonuse, generics, confusingly similar marks, weak marks, and functional features.

3 If a trademark’s owner has not been damaged, a court has the discretion to allow the competitor to also use the mark under very limited circumstances.

'Get your Wazzeer' for any Intellectual Property Protection rights that you want to file for.

Intellectual Property is known to be the literary and artistic, designs and symbols that are created by human mind. When you start a business, how to protect your intellectual property (IP) is always a major concern. IP is protected by law so that one can earn recognition along with the financial benefits from their own creation.

Recently it has been noticed that it has become extremely important to focus on the awareness of intellectual properties among the startup communities, in order to identify and protect all the intangible assets of a company. But there is also some strength and weakness of IP assets like the trademark, patent law, and copyright.

Strengths and Weaknesses of Intel

Copyright Law:

Strengths-

1. Protects “creative work” from being used by other people without permission. If they do, legal action can take place against them.
2. Copyrights last the lifetime of the author plus 70 years.
3. Copyright can be enforced in other industrialized countries because of the GATT treaty.

Weaknesses-

1. If you create something as an employee, your employer owns the copyright for that product or idea.
2. People can legally infringe upon your copyright if it is considered “fair use.” Fair use is for things like research, scholarship, criticism, and journalism.
3. Infringers have multiple defenses that they can use if they are brought to court. They can challenge the copyright itself, they can say they didn’t know it was copyrighted, or they can say it was fair use.

Patent Law:

Strengths-

1. Inventors may file a Provisional Patent Application to protect a patentable invention before it is complete.
2. Owners of a patent may bring a patent infringement suit on anyone who uses the invention without permission. Courts can lay down injunctions and award damages to the patent owner.
3. Due to the Patent Cooperation Treaty and the Paris Convention, inventors can receive patent protection in other countries by filling applications and paying fees in a timely fashion.

Weaknesses-

1. When a patent infringement suit is filled, the accused often sets out to demonstrate the patent is invalid. There are many different ways for accused to do this such as proving the invention was not novel or non-obvious.
2. Patents last only 20 years (14 years for design patents), and once they expire the inventor has no legal protection over the invention because it has fallen into public domain.
3. Patents take 1 to 3 years to become approved. A patent examiner is assigned to each application and the examiner decides whether the patent meets technical requirements and whether it is novel and non-obvious.

Trademark Law:

Strengths-

1. Trademarks are owned by the first person to use them. Once they are established, a company can file an Intent-to-use application with the PTO.
2. Anyone who initiates the use of the same or a confusingly similar mark will be presumed by the courts to be a “willful infringer.”
3. It is possible to obtain basic protection for a mark from federal courts under the Latham Act without prior registration.

Weaknesses-

1 If a trademark has been registered with the PTO and has not put the ® on a mark, then it can be handicapped when filing a lawsuit against an infringer.

2 Trademark law cannot protect nonuse, generics, confusingly similar marks, weak marks, and functional features.

3 If a trademark’s owner has not been damaged, a court has the discretion to allow the competitor to also use the mark under very limited circumstances.

'Get your Wazzeer' for any Intellectual Property Protection rights that you want to file for.