Exam 9: Ownership, Creativity and Innovation: Intellectual Property

Discuss U.S. patent law. Give examples of items that can and cannot be patented. U.S. patent law protects the rights of those who discover tools, machines, processes and other "novel, useful, and non-obvious" inventions. Recently patented items include Amazon.com's one-click internet checkout (business method) and a new type of hybrid corn. The Supreme Court has held that "laws of nature, natural phenomena [or] abstract ideas" are not patent-eligible. Once a U.S. patent is acquired, the inventor has a complete monopoly for 20 years. During that time, no one else may use or profit from the invention without permission.

American copyright law creates a bundle of rights for the owner, including the right to reproduce, distribute, perform, display, or adapt the work.

The difference between the Project Gutenberg (PG) and the Google book scanning project is:

Discuss how intellectual property is different from other kinds of property.

Discuss the Fair Use Doctrine. What are the four statutory factors used to determine if a use is fair?

Why was the Digital Millennium Copyright Act passed?

If an author owns a copyright to a non-fiction essay, then publishes that essay in an anthology of similar essays published by a major publishing company, the rights involved in this relationship would be referred to as ______.

Trade secrets are registered just like trademarks.

Give examples of improper ways to learning a trade secret under the Uniform Trade Secrets Act. Give an example of a way that is not considered improper or wrong. Improper ways of learning a trade secret include theft, bribery, misrepresentation, breach or inducement of a breach of a duty to maintain secrecy, or espionage. Figuring out a recipe by taste trials, known as "reverse engineering", in not considered wrongful.

What must a plaintiff prove to establish copyright infringement?

Debora Halbert asserts in her essay that:

Nike's swoosh, McDonald's arches, and the Xerox name are all identifiable trademarks. Which of the following laws protect(s) them? I. Lanham Trademark Act of 1946 II. Federal Trademark Dilution Revision Act of 2006 III. Sonny Bono Act of 1998

In a lawsuit for copyright infringement, a defendant can avoid liability by successfully arguing _________, based on the notion that the free flow of ideas sometimes requires quoting or borrowing from a copyrighted work.

Once the copyright on a work has expired,

In order to obtain a patent under U.S. Patent Law, an inventor must have an invention that is I. Not obvious II. Unique III. Useful IV. Not a modification of any prior patents

Give a brief description of the increased protection in U.S. Copyright laws starting in 1994 and using approximate dates.