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Protecting your intellectual property [The Citizens' Voice, Wilkes-Barre, Pa.]
[October 19, 2014]

Protecting your intellectual property [The Citizens' Voice, Wilkes-Barre, Pa.]


(Citizens' Voice, The (Wilkes-Barre, PA) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Oct. 19--In order to protect the intellectual property of your company, you have to know your company is creating it, a legal expert says.

Some companies do not know their employees are creating intellectual property -- or that intellectual property can give their company a competitive advantage, said attorney and former software developer Douglas Panzer, of the law firm Fitzpatrick, Lentz and Bubba, Center Valley.



"Make sure all of our employees at all levels are aware of the value of (intellectual property)," he said. "We have to teach them there is value in the know-how, and there is value in the ideas and the things we create. We are working in a competitive environment. Our distinct competitive advantage is important to us. It is important it doesn't leave here, doesn't get disclosed to inappropriate parties, whether it's customers or competitors." Catalog and tracking intellectual property is the first step.

"You have to create a documentation process, something that fits into your existing process," he said. "How do your people work, how do they create, how in that process can you fit paperwork without people loathing that process. You have to incentivize people. People are working to get tasks done It is an extra step for them to document these things, and percolate it up. Maybe you pay them $100 for each invention disclosure, and more if a patent is approved." Mr. Panzer said IBM is the "800-pound gorilla" in patents, applying for about 3,000 patents per year. The company developed a detailed catalog and tracking process.


Mr. Panzer cautioned there's a distinct difference between employees and people that you have working for you on a contract basis. A company can write into its personnel policy things created by employees will become the property of the employer. In the contract employee situation, without a written agreement that expressly states that the intellectual property is assigned to you, it belongs to the person who created it.

Conversely, moonlighting is easier to handle in contract relationships. But for employees, that also has to be spelled out in the company's personnel policy.

There are four main ways to protect intellectual property: Patent "Patents are the protection you get for ideas can protect processes actual products, methods all kinds of intangible ideas that are inventive meaning they are new, have never been done before by anyone else, and it is not obvious in view of what has been done before," Mr. Panzer said.

"If I have two items that already exist that someone else has made, if I put them together, if it was obvious to do that it's not patentable. If it was no obvious, I may have done something inventive." Patents are good for 20 years, and is the most costly way to protect intellectual property. The cost of patents starts at about $2,500, and as much as $20,000, and may take up to three years to get. Mr. Panzer cautioned spending the money does not guarantee the patent will be granted.

Copyright "Copyright only protects things in a tangible media -- recorded video, recorded music, the design on packaging," Mr. Panzer said. "With a copyright, you don't get the idea, you get the expression. If I were to say to you, write me a story about a dog who goes into a bar and has a conversation. All of you would own a copyright because the story was your own expression. The idea of the dog going into the bar and having a conversation is not copyrightable." Copyrights cover everything from a computer source code, to newsprint, books, drawings, manuals and training material. Copyrights are a lot less expensive. The filing fee on a copyright registration is $40.

Trademark A trademark is anything that indicates the source of a product or service, and the goodwill associated with that source. It could be a name, tag line or a logo.

An R in circle indicates a registered trademark. There is also an unregistered trademark, or common-law trademark.

"If you do not register a trademark, it is limited to the geography in which you have used that trademark, and the particular goods and industry you have used that trademark with," Mr. Panzer said.

Trademark registration gives you federal rights throughout the country to use that trademark in association with the types of goods and services you use it on, he said, and anything else that would cause someone to be confused as to whether the other product is related.

An example of a tag line is "America runs on Dunkin'." To register a trademark, it costs $275 per trademark and per class of goods and services.

Trade secrets "Trade secrets are anything that you can truly keep secret that gives you a competitive advantage," Mr. Panzer said. "The most famous one is the formula for Coke. There are probably three living people who know the actual formula for Coke. They keep it in bank vault in the Coke museum in Atlanta." What future plans you have for your company may play a role in how you handle intellectual property, Mr. Panzer said.

"Where do you see your business going in the next three, five, 10 years?" Mr. Panzer said. "What is your products road map? Who are your main competitors? What is the technology?" Contact the writer: [email protected] ___ (c)2014 The Citizens' Voice (Wilkes-Barre, Pa.) Visit The Citizens' Voice (Wilkes-Barre, Pa.) at citizensvoice.com Distributed by MCT Information Services

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