Chapter 6

Protecting the Idea

and
Other Legal Issues for the Hisrich
Entrepreneur Peters

McGraw-Hill/Irwin Copyright © 2010 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Shepherd
What is Intellectual Property?

 It includes patents, trademarks,

copyrights, and trade secrets.
 These represent important assets to the
entrepreneur.
 Intellectual property should be understood
even before engaging the services of an
attorney(lawyer).

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How to Select a Lawyer

 An entrepreneur needs to be aware of any

regulations that may affect a venture.

 A lawyer may work on a retainer basis or

may be hired for a one-time fee.

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 Patents
 Patent - Grants holder protection from others
making, using, or selling similar idea;

 Utility patent – Protection of new, useful, and

unobvious processes, machines, compositions of
matter, and articles of manufacture;

 Design patent – Covers new, original, ornamental,

and unobvious designs for articles of manufacture;

 Plant patent - Given for new varieties of plants.

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 Patents (cont.)

 Patent Infringement (breaking the terms of a

law)

 If patent infringement is unavoidable, the entrepreneur

may try to license the product from the patent holder.

 hire a patent attorney (lawyer) to ensure there is no

possibility of infringement (violation).

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 Trademarks

 A distinguishing word, name, or symbol used to

identify a product.
 It can last indefinitely.

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Trade marks - Categories

 Coined marks:

Denote no relationship between mark and goods

 Arbitrary marks: which has another meaning in our
language eg; apple
 Suggestive marks: is used to suggest certain features,
qualities, ingredients eg; Maza juice
 Descriptive marks: a word (or words) that merely describes a
product or its ingredient, quality, characteristic, function, feature,
purpose or use. Example: COLD AND CREAMY for ice cream.

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Class Assignment- Group [10-05-2022]

Give examples
of categories of
trade marks

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Copyrights

 Right given to prevent others from

printing, copying, or publishing any
original works of authorship.

 Term of the copyright is the life of the

author plus 70 years.

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Trade Secrets

 Provides protection against others revealing

or disclosing information that could be
damaging to business.

 Trade secrets have a life as long as the idea or

process remains a secret.

 Employees may be asked to sign a confidential

information agreement.

 Entrepreneur needs to take proper precautions.

 Legal action is possible only after the secret
has been revealed. 6-10
Licensing

 A contractual agreement giving rights to

others to use intellectual property in
return for a royalty or fee.
 Types of licensing:
 Patent license agreements - Specify how the
licensee would have access to the patent.
 Trademark license agreements - Involve a
franchising agreement.
 Copyright license agreements - Involve rights to
use or copy books, software, music,
photographs, plays, etc.
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