Here at Miletti Law®, we are committed to the continued publication of blogs and making of videos that aim to keep you, our unusually motivated® readers, #InTheKnow concerning issues that affect you and your businesses. We are the authoritative force in Employment and Labor Law and passionate experts when it comes to labor law. However, while we enjoy breaking the monotony and sharing with you all hilarious moments every now and then, we are also authoritative experts in a variety of other area of law.

In the past two weeks, we created videos and published blogs (Part 1 and Part 2) of a very exciting subject – Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) and the passive income they could create. If you read the blogs or watched the videos, the concept behind NFTs introduced us to another interesting area of business law known as intellectual property rights.

That being said, it seems like the perfect time that we now change gears for a short while and enlighten and educate you what intellectual property rights entail and why this is a vital area of business law. Before we dive in, it’s important to inform all our unusually motivated® readers that this is just part 1 of a series of blogs in which we’ll explore intellectual property rights in depth.  While ultimately, we will focus on the commercial and business contexts, we’ll begin with an overview of intellectual property rights in this blog.

Definition of Intellectual Property

By definition, intellectual property simply refers to creations of the mind that take the form of images, names, or symbols, designs, and artistic and literary works. To put it another way, you are taking this intangible thought, and turning it into something tangible and giving it life!

Types of Intellectual Property

Generally, intellectual property is classified into patents, copyrights, trade secrets, and trademarks.

Patents

A patent is an exclusive right granted for an invention. Technically, this exclusive right provides the owner of the patent the liberty and right to decide whether others can use the invention and if so, how or cannot use it.

Copyrights

In legal terms, copyrights constitute the rights exercised by creators of artistic and literary works. Usually, copyright covers a range of such works including, but not limited to, films & music, sculpture, books, computer programs, technical drawings, paintings, and databases.

Trade Secrets

While they can be licensed or sold, the intellectual property rights owned by an individual or entity on confidential, privileged, and proprietary information constitute trade secrets. In the U.S., proprietary rights are protected under the law 15 U.S. Code § 5308.

Trademarks

A trademark acts as a unique sign or symbol that distinguishes an entity’s goods and services from those of other entities. It’s important to note that most trademarks are registered as standard character-only trademarks. However, a trademark can consist of numbers, letters, words, or a combination of these without a special design, color, size, or font. A perfect example is Coca-Cola®. Others, such as the golden arches of McDonald’s® constitutes an illustration of a design that is a registered trademark. We also take pride in our own – Miletti Law®. A perfect example of a registered trademark that combines a word and a design is that of the Nike® logo.

Intellectual Property Rights

Accordingly, intellectual property rights constitute legal provisions through which creators and owners are provided protection for their creations of the mind. It, therefore, follows that intellectual property law entails statutes and regulations that protect and enforce rights of the owners and creators of these creations of the mind.

When owners and creators of creations of the mind file for intellectual property rights, they are provided with a license in accordance with the intellectual property law. Thus, a licensee gets the right and permission to use the intellectual property at issue following the issuance of a license. All the details regarding what the licensee, who is the sole end user, can do and cannot do with the licensed intellectual property are provided for in the license.

Unfortunately, the infringement on intellectual property is not a new issue, despite the existence of a license of ownership. In many cases, lawsuits on intellectual property are often very costly, particularly to those who lose. For instance, after losing a patent-infringement trial, Intel, the giant chipmaker, was recently ordered to pay $2.2 billion to VLSI Technology.

Because of such right issues, the law requires that every single detail of an intellectual property to be defined and described with precision. For example, a person creates a computer software and, thus, has intellectual property rights over it. In accordance with the law, the license agreement must define and describe the computer software precisely and adequately. For that matter, while a technical definition is often attached alongside the agreement to act as an exhibit, the license must spell this computer software with specificity. However, any property being licensed requires matching perfectly with the description as provided within the agreement document.

Stay tuned for the next blog as we continue exploring other aspects of intellectual property and associated rights! In the interim, if there are any questions or comments, please let us know at the Contact Us page!