ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Lecture No: 10
LEGAL ISSUES FOR THE
ENTREPRENEUR
 Intellectual Property
 Any patent, trademark, copyrights or
trade secrets held by the
entrepreneur

 It includes
1. Need for a lawyer
2. Hiring a lawyer
 Patent
 A patent is a contract between the government
and an inventor.
 The government grants the inventor exclusivity
for a specified amount of time.
 At the end, the government publishes the
invention, and it becomes part of the public
domain.
 The patent gives the owners a negative right,
preventing anyone from making, using, or
selling the invention.
 Types of Patent

Utility Patent
 Most patents fall into the utility patent category.
 Utility patents are subdivided into mechanical,
electrical and chemical categories.
 utility patent protects the way an invention is
used and works.
 Utility patents may be granted to anyone who
invents a new and useful method, process,
machine, device, manufactured item, or
chemical compound.
 Types of Patent

Design Patents
 A design patent is a patent granted on the
ornamental design of a functional item.
 Design patents are a type of industrial
design right.
 Ornamental designs of jewelry, furniture,
beverage containers and computer icons
are examples of objects that are covered
by design patents.
 Types of Patent
Plant patents:
 Plant patents typically grant the plant breeder
control of the propagating material (including
seed, cuttings, divisions, tissue culture) and
harvested material (cut flowers, fruit, foliage)
of a new variety for a period of 17 years.
 With these rights, the breeder can choose to
become the exclusive marketer of the variety,
or to license the variety to others.
 In order to qualify for protection by plant
breeders' rights, a variety must be new,
distinct, uniform and stable.
 The Disclosure document

 Statement to Patent and Trademark

office by inventor disclosing intent to
patent idea
 This document is important when two
entrepreneurs are filing for patents on
similar inventions
 The disclosure document is not a patent
application
 The Patent Application

Introduction:
 Background and advantage of invention
Description of invention:
 It consists of description of drawings
according to PTO requirement
Claims:
 The criteria through which any
infringements is determined