Summati
THE
n Weekly USPS Publication Number 16300
T h is C om mu n i t y N ewsp a p er is a pu bl ica t ion of E sca m bia / S a n ta Rosa B a r Assoc ia t ion
Section A, Page 1
Vol. 17, No. 2
Visit The Summation Weekly Online: www.summationweekly.com
January 11, 2017
1 Section, 8 Pages
The Idea Protection Business by Dawn Gresko
Four building blocks of IP protection plans 1. Patent: WHAT IS INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AND WHY IS THERE AN ENTIRE FIELD OF LAW DEDICATED TO IT? WE FIND OUT AS WE DELVE INTO THE IDEA PROTECTION BUSINESS WITH LOCAL INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY SPECIALIST AND PATENT ATTORNEY, NEVIN SHAFFER, JR., WHO ALSO INSTRUCTS THE NEW INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAW COURSE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF WEST FLORIDA. While modern society has laws and rules in place to protect our physical property— from damage and theft to our homes and the items found within, you might ask: What kind of protections do we have available for our intellectual property? What’s to stop the theft of our inventions, which are oftentimes intangible ideas? Here enters intellectual property law, or IP law, which covers four main areas: patents, trademarks, copyrights and trade secrets. So, just how do we define intellectual property? In short, intellectual property can be summed up as a creation of the mind—an idea, a piece of work, or an invention created uniquely by you. However, to better understand the inner workings of intellectual property law, Business Climate spoke with expert J. Nevin Shaffer, Jr.—a Florida Board Certified Intellectual Property Law Specialist and Licensed Patent Attorney, who is registered in three states (Florida, Alabama and Texas), as well as adjunct professor of the new intellectual property law course at the University of West Florida’s Department of Accounting and Finance. “I love what I do, I always say it’s the idea protection business,” said Shaffer. “Most lawyers you hire when something bad happens. My job
is to protect a new little idea and make sure it grows up.” As professor of the intellectual property law course at the UWF, which held its inaugural session this fall, Shaffer teaches a proper understanding of how to protect a business from competitors by developing IP protection plans for businesses in this introductory course. And, if you were thinking the class is strictly for pre-law students, think again. In fact, it might help to know there are no prerequisites required. “My objective is to have intellectual property as a required course at UWF,” said Shaffer. “Why? It’s not just valuable to pre-law students but to those in various fields—folks who are business majors or want to become accountants.” For a real-world perspective, Shaffer has invited several local business people including leaders Julie Sheppard of IMHC, Kelly Massey and Glenn McDuffy of SBDC, John and Marsha Martelli of Martelli Enterprises, litigation attorneys J.D. Smith and Brian Hancock, as well as Joel Smith of AppRiver and Mike Droogsma of Broussard’s Bayou Grill & Cajun Market. These special guest speakers talk to students about how intellectual property plays a role in how they run their respective businesses. As Shaffer puts it, if
you’re an accountant with zero knowledge of intellectual property, then you won’t know what to value and account for in order to provide max protection for it under the law. For this reason, Shaffer’s aim with his course is to not only explain how intellectual property adds value to a business, but to explain and help you identify how any company has intellectual property, discuss strategies a business can employ to start protecting IP at basic levels and how to maximize protection in each form when deemed beneficial to a company, as well as explain the differences between patent, trademark, copyright and trade secret protection. As Shaffer teaches, patents, trademarks, copyrights and trade secrets are the four building blocks of a secure Intellectual Property protection plan for a business. Before you start developing a plan, you might want to better understand the four building blocks of intellectual property, which Shaffer has kindly outlined. A U.S. patent is a grant of rights from the federal government regarding an invention; rights that include excluding others from making, using, or selling your invention. There are various forms of patents including utility patents for things such as processes and
machines, design patents for novel ornamental designs for articles of manufacture, and even plant patents for certain asexually reproduced plants. Why is a patent valuable? Because it provides exclusionary rights that maximizes profits from your invention. It prevents others from making, using or selling the patented device and, thus, can provide a competitive advantage over rival manufacturers and block competitors from using the patent owner’s patented technology. A trademark, or service mark, includes any symbol, such as a word, design, or slogan, used to identity and distinguish one company’s goods from the goods of others. Trademarks allow consumers to pick out particular goods and/ or services from others competing in the same marketplace, and trademark identification is often the primary factor in motivating a consumer to choose one product over another. Then there’s copyrights: a copyright is a form of intellectual property right granted by the federal government for “original works of authorship.” The owner of a copyright has five basic rights: reproduce the copyrighted work, prepare derivative works, distribute copies, perform the copyrighted work publicly, and display the copyrighted
work publicly. This ensures others will not benefit unfairly from the original author’s creativity; others must either make their own investment of time, money and creativity to make their own work, or they can purchase the rights to use an author’s work. Finally, you have trade secrets: that’s any information not known generally in a specific trade, which is used to provide an advantage over competitors. But, what are some examples of trade secrets? Any and every thing from customer lists, chemical processes and formulas, designs and plans, data compilations, as well as manufacturing processes and/or techniques. Trade secrets can create an advantage over competitors in many of the same ways as patents; although they provide no protection against those who independently develop the trade secret information, trade secrets never expire as do patents and copyrights. For example, the formula to Coca-Cola will remain a trade secret indefinitely as long as it is kept under wraps. Not a professional on IP law yet? Shaffer is currently offering the introduction to IP law in the spring 2017 semester at UWF and hopes to continue offering it throughout the remainder of the year.
For more details on the course, feel free to reach out to Shaffer at jshaffer2@uwf. edu.
A grant of rights from the federal government regarding an invention. A patent lasts a maximum of 20 years from the date of filing the application.
2. Trademark:
A symbol, including a word, a design, or a slogan, that is used to identify and distinguish one company’s goods from the goods of others.
3. Copyright:
One form of intellectual property rights granted by the federal government for “original works of authorship.” This includes literary, musical, dramatic, and pictorial works, as well as motion pictures, and sound recordings. Computer programs are also considered literary works.
4. Trade Secrets:
Any information that has value in that it is useful in business and is generally not commonly known in the particular trade. For example: algorithms; designs, drawings, architectural plans and blueprints; data compilations, manufacturing or repair processes and techniques.