| Reexamination of Patents |
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| After a patent is issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), the discovery of prior art or publications not noticed prior to the patent's issue may raise questions as to the validity of the issued patent. In such a case, a patentee or a third party may file an application for reexamination of the patent in the USPTO. For a third party, reexamination provides a lower cost alternative to a conventional lawsuit for challenging the validity of a patent. If the third party is an unsuccessful infringement defendant, a reexamination that results in the invalidation of a patent may provide vindication of that defendant's rights despite the results of the court case. For the patentee, the reexamination process may reveal the need to narrow a patent's claims in order to be in a better position to fend off a challenge to the patent's validity. In addition, the USPTO may take it upon itself to reexamine a patent without it being requested by the patentee or a third party. More... |
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| The Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property |
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| In 1883, 11 countries set out to make it easier for its citizens to obtain patent and trademark protection in other countries and became signatories to the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property. Under the Convention, the patent and trademark protection mechanisms of the member countries were opened up to citizens of other member countries, allowing such citizens to be able to obtain intellectual property protection in each of the member countries. In addition, the Convention established a right of priority, which means that the initial filing date seeking protection for intellectual property serves as the filing date in other countries as long as the intellectual property owner files for protection within other member countries within a specified time period. The Convention has been revised several times since its inception, and is currently administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization, a specialized agency of the United Nations. There are now 164 signatories to the Convention. More... |
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| Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990 |
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| The moral rights of authors that are recognized in the Berne Convention are: (1) the right of attribution, which is the right to be identified as the author of a work or to be disassociated from a work such as by publishing a work anonymously or under a pseudonym; and (2) the right of integrity, which allows an author to prevent distortion or mutilation of the work. Additional moral rights granted by French law include the right to decide whether the work may be disclosed to the public, the right to withdraw a disclosed work from the public, and the right to reply to criticism of the work in the same medium in which the criticism was presented. Moral rights exist independently of any property rights in the copyrighted work and are kept by the author even if the copyrighted work is sold or transferred. Outside the United States, if another person owns the property right to a copyrighted work, the exercise of moral rights--such as ordering the publishing of a book to cease--may require the author to compensate the owner of the property right for any economic loss that results. In many jurisdictions, moral rights may be waived. More... |
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| Patents |
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| A patent is a right granted by the federal government to exclude others from making, using, selling, offering for sale, or importing the subject of the patent for a limited period of time, whether it be an invention, process, composition of material, or other patentable article, without the permission of the patent owner. Conduct that interferes with the right of exclusion is called infringement.
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| Patentable Subject Matter |
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| Patent law specifies the general field of subject matter that may be patented as well as the conditions under which a patent may be obtained. In the language of the applicable statute, any person who "invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent." Under law, patents are granted on new inventions of-or useful improvements on-things in the following categories: More... |
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