Introduction to the Podcast
Hello, and welcome to the Patenting for Inventors podcast, Episode One: What is Intellectual Property and What Kind Do I Need? My name is Dr. Adam Diament, founder and owner of Diament Patent Law in Los Angeles, California. I’ve been a patent attorney since 2008, and I created this podcast for budding entrepreneurs, inventors, and startup companies that just want to know how to actually get a patent on their idea.
The patent application process can be a bit scary, so the plan with this podcast is to take you step-by-step, starting from the time you get an idea in your head to getting an issued patent. Each episode is going to take you one step at a time through the patenting process, so by the end of this series, you will have the tools to prepare and file a patent application by yourself. Or, if you’d like to have a patent attorney help you through the process, by listening to this podcast, at least you’ll know the right questions to ask.
Overview of Intellectual Property
You may have heard the terms intellectual property, patent, trademark, copyright, trade secret thrown around, but you may not have a good understanding of the differences—and you may not even know which one applies to you. All you know is that you have something, or you thought of something, that you don’t want anyone else to steal.
So this first episode is going to be an overview of the four main types of intellectual property and give examples of each, so you have a better idea of which one you might need. Your invention or product may fall into just one type of intellectual property—or it could fall under two, three, or even all four types.
What is Intellectual Property?
Intellectual property refers to creations of the mind that can be protected by law. There are four main types: copyrights, trademarks, patents, and trade secrets. I’m going to go through a very basic overview of each of these.
Copyrights
Copyrights are the first area I’m going to go over. Copyrights are meant to protect original and creative expressions. The most common things you might get a copyright for are music, paintings, books, lyrics, movies, dance choreography, and product manuals.
Copyright does not cover the underlying ideas. Two movies can be about the same idea, but if they have entirely different scripts, then you aren’t prevented from making a movie about the same idea. Also, you can’t copyright facts. For example, the phone book, even though it is a book, is not copyrightable because it is just a listing of names and phone numbers. There has to be something original and creative for you to have copyright protection for your work.
It also has to be in some physical form. So even though I said dance choreography, there is only copyright protection if it has been recorded in some physical medium—such as on video or written in dance notation. So if you’ve thought of something that fits into one of these categories, you are probably interested in copyrights.
Copyrights today generally last the life of the creator plus 70 years. So once the creator dies, for the next 70 years, the heirs to the author can continue to collect royalties.
Trademarks
The second category of intellectual property is trademarks. Trademarks are sometimes confused with copyrights because both can be made of words or designs. The difference is that trademarks identify the source of the goods.
The question is: when you see this word, design, or slogan, is it telling you what company or business it came from—and does it differentiate it from other companies? For example, the Nike swoosh—when you see that on a shoe, you know that it is Nike and not Reebok. When you see the peacock on TV, you know it is an NBC show and not a CBS show.
Trademarks can also be slogans, such as “Just Do It.” When you see that slogan, you know it’s Nike. When you hear “Don’t leave home without it,” you know that it’s American Express and not Visa.
Most trademarks are slogans, logos, business names, and product names. Trademark rights can last forever as long as they are continuously used.
Patents
The third category of intellectual property is patents. Patents protect inventions. The invention can be an improvement on something already known—such as inventing a new kind of battery that lasts twice as long as known batteries, inventing a new medical device that makes heart surgery easier, or creating a new drug that fights cancer.
The invention doesn’t have to be a physical object; it can be a method of doing something. For example, someone might get a patent for a method of refining oil that makes it cheaper and easier to turn crude oil into gasoline.
Most of this podcast series is going to be about how to get patents for physical products and method patents. Together, these are called utility patents. There are two other kinds of patents: design patents and plant patents, which I’ll cover in later episodes.
Patent rights generally last 20 years from the time of filing, and during this time you have the right to stop others from making, using, importing, or selling your patented product. After 20 years, anyone is free to copy your patented invention.
Trade Secrets
The last category of intellectual property is trade secrets. Trade secrets are exactly what they sound like—secrets. As long as they remain secret and no one can figure out what the secret is, you have a business advantage.
A trade secret is usually confidential business information. Probably the most famous trade secret is the exact formula for Coca-Cola. There’s an urban legend that only two people know the formula and they’re not allowed to be on the same plane together in case the plane crashes and the formula is lost forever. While that’s probably not true, it is true that very few people know the formula, and it is a heavily guarded secret.
So why don’t they patent it so no one can copy it? There are a few reasons. One of them is that if they patented the formula, they would have had to disclose what the formula is—and after 20 years, anyone could make the formula.
That highlights one of the benefits—but also one of the risks—of trade secrets. A trade secret can last forever, as long as it’s kept secret. But if the secret gets out, such as through reverse engineering, then anyone can try to recreate Coke.
Businesses often use non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) so that employees are barred from revealing company secrets. But if the secret gets out, you can’t go after the public for using information that came from that secret.
One Product, Multiple Protections
As I mentioned before, whatever your idea is, it might be covered by all four types of intellectual property.
Let’s take, for example, a new type of watch. You may have discovered a way to connect gears together in a new way that allows the watch to be much more accurate. The way you connected the gears together would be covered by a patent.
But let’s say that you designed a watch band with a particular new pattern or image on the face of the watch. That might be covered by copyright.
You might want to put your business logo on the watch—such as Rolex, Timex, or Casio—and that would be covered by trademarks.
And let’s say the leather you use for your watch strap is the best leather in the world, and you don’t want others to know where to get it. Your leather supplier could be your trade secret.
Conclusion
So those are the four areas of intellectual property: copyrights, trademarks, patents, and trade secrets.
In the next episode, I’m going to cover the steps to go through when you first have an idea for a new invention, to start you on the patenting process.
Until next time—keep on inventing!