Intellectual property is an intangible form of property that results from mental labor. It includes inventions, designs, and artistic work. Federal and state laws provide rights and protections to creators of these works to control their intangible assets. These assets can be in the form of:
– Copyrights
– Patents
– Trademarks
– Trade Secrets
The U.S. Constitution grants Congress the power to legislate on intellectual property matters. Article I, Section 8 empowers Congress to grant copyright and patent rights to authors and inventors. Federal copyright law is codified in chapters 1 through 8 and 10 through 12 of title 17 of the United States Code. Patent law is found in Title 35 of the United States Code.
Congress’s authority to enact federal trademark protection stems from the Commerce Clause. The Lanham Act is the primary federal statute covering trademark law, complemented by state laws. Most states have adopted the Uniform Trade Secrets Act, which safeguards confidential business information providing a competitive edge. Trade secrets encompass manufacturing, industrial, and commercial secrets.
Intellectual property rights are generally enforced by rights holders through civil lawsuits against infringers. The remedies for infringement vary based on the type of intellectual property involved.
Copyrights protect ‘original works of authorship.’ This protection includes the right to reproduce, create derivative works, distribute, and publicly perform. Copyright does not cover abstract ideas, systems, concepts, principles, or discoveries. Instead, a work must be fixed in a tangible medium of expression to be eligible for copyright. Copyrightable works encompass literature, music, drama, choreography, pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works, motion pictures, sound recordings, and architectural work.
A patent grants an exclusive right to make, use, offer to sell, or sell an invention in the U.S., or import it, for a limited time. The purpose of patents is to encourage inventors to develop new and useful discoveries. To obtain a patent, the application must demonstrate subject matter that can be patented, usefulness, novelty, non-obviousness, and enablement, and disclose the invention to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
Trademark protection is obtained by using a word, phrase, logo, symbol, shape, sound, fragrance, or color in commerce to identify goods. The mark must also be distinctive.
Trademark rights are exclusive to the first producer who uses a trademark in commerce. There are four traits that define distinctiveness: arbitrary/fanciful, suggestive, descriptive, and generic.
Trade secrets are protected under the Uniform Trade Secrets Act (UTSA). According to the UTSA, a trade secret is information that has independent economic value because it is not generally known and the holder of the trade secret makes reasonable efforts to keep it secret. Previously, improper use or disclosure of a trade secret was considered a common law tort, which involved considering six factors to determine if information was a trade secret. However, most states have adopted the UTSA. For a trade secret holder to enforce a trade secret under the UTSA, they must prove that the trade secret qualifies for protection and that the defendant has wrongfully acquired and misappropriated the secret information. Last reviewed October 2024
