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Check into it! arkansasfindaJawyer.com was designed as an easy-to-use directory to help the public cut through the Internet clutter when locating an attorney. Prospects can search for you by city, county, name and over 50 areas of practice. Become a parr of the only on-line directory composed solely of Arkansas Bar Association members. It's just another way your Arkansas Bar Association is working to serve you! To register for arkansasfindalawyer.com l conmer Barbara Tarkington at 501-375-4606, 800-609-5668 or btarkington@arkbar.com. www.arkbar.com
"6
A Brief Tour of Hot Topics by Ray F. Cox, Jr.
Intelleccual Property ("IP") may be one of the smalJest and most specialized segmenu of practice among the members of the Arkansas Bar Association. So why should this Issue concentrate on Intellectual Propercy law? And more to the point, why should you, the non-IP practitioner, be inrerested? Rather than answer that question direcdy, I will take you on a brief rour of some of the hot topics in IP
today. JUSt abour everyone today is mmiliar with Internet terminology. You are probably aware that domain names are the addresses of sites on the Imernet. Most businesses wam to have a domain name that is the same as or similar to the name under which they do business, which is usually protected by trademark. But are you aware of the widespread practice of "cybersquatting", where modern pirates of the Inrernet register domain names that may be idenricaJ to your client's trademark? Angela Ohm's article on "Trademark Law for the GeneraJ Practitioner" is the place to start. What if your c1ienr hired someone [Q write an advenisemenr or create a logo? It
belongs to the client, right? Well, maybe not. Dennis Haase explores the "work for hire" doctrine and mher subjects in copyright law in his article, "Everything You Ever Wamed to Know abom Copyrights
(Almost) But Never Bothered to Ask".
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Your client operates under a name that is not trademarked and cannot become a vaJid trademark. A competitor begins using a similar name in me hopes of confusing the public and drawing customers away from your diem. What can you do? See Tim Cheatham's discussion of "The Law of Unfair Competition".
Even without producing patemable invemions or copyrighted works, your client may very well be creating intellectual property without knowing it or benefiting from it. Technical "know how" may be one of the most valuable byproducts of any business activity. Once it is created, how does the diem profit from it? Maybe the vehicle is licensing the technology to others who need it. Harold Evans gives an indepth discussion of the subject in
"Introduction to Technology Licensing". No one these days is far from compurer technology. Businesses often find themselves in the role of creating meir own computer software when the commercially
available product doesn't do the job. Can computer software be protected from use by omers? At one time the answer was:
probably not effectively. Today, though, the question is not whether, but how to protect your computer software. For the details, see Chuck Doughery's article on "Choosing the Best Method of Protecting Computer Software - One Size Does Not Fit All". If there is one area of Intellectual Property that most people have had some exposure to, it is patents. Joe CaJhoun shows you the numerous ways in which patent questions can arise for the general practitioner in his article "The Impact of Patent Law on Everyday Practice". These articles show me broad range of issues in the IP area and how IP can impact many of your c1iems' interests. I hope this brief introduction will whet your appetite to dip into these articles, and after sampling them, I am sure you will agree thar you and your clients need to know IP.Q
Ray F. Cox, Jr., is with the Little Rock Inw jim, afWright, Lindsey 6- JC1Illillgs LLP.