Law Offices of Bonnie Follett - Intellectual Property

Notice: Legal Information is in the process of being added to this page. Any information provided is strictly for general information only and the information is not intended to cover all situations. Be reminded that this information may or may not be up to date and laws change frequently.

A Patent is a legal device used to create a monopoly that grants you the right to exclude others from making, using or selling the functional features of an invention that is useful, novel and "unobvious".

The term of the monopoly granted by a patent is generally 20 years or 14 years for a design patent. - If you require patent protection for an invention, see a patent attorney educated in the field which applies to your specific patent and who is registered as a patent attorney with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. (Law Offices of Bonnie Follett does not prepare patent applications.)

 

A Trademark is a device used to provide legal protection for a "source identifier" for your business, service or product. Such a source identifier could be your business name, or any word, name, symbol, slogan or other device such as a sound or a scent that helps consumers to identify it with your product. When seen, a trademark lets the consumer know who produced the goods or services and therefore operates on the principle of "goodwill" of the business and it helps consumers distinguish your product from that of others.

A registered trademark allows you to prevent others from using a confusingly similiar mark for the type of goods or services in question.
A trademark registration provides protection for 10 years and is renewable forever as long as it is still in use.

 

A Copyright creates legal rights to protect original creative works, and gives you the exclusive right to copy, prepare derivative works, distribute the work, display the work and perform the copyrighted work.

Generally, the term of a copyright varies depending on whether you are a company or an individual. It protects the work for 75 years from the date of publication for works owned by a company. But for indivudual works, it protects for the period of the life of the author plus 50 years after their death.

Want to find out what a legal term means ? Try this dictionary.

Please contact the Law Offices of Bonnie Follett
if you need more specific information.