Protect Your Products

When building a small business, especially one based a new idea or product, it is important to protect your ideas from the hands of the competition. Having a working knowledge of the different legal statutes that protect you and your ideas is crucial for protecting yourself and your business. Patents, trademarks, service marks, and copyrights are all tools to help protect your ideas.

Patents

The United States Patent and Trademark Office issues patents for inventions as a grant of a property right to the inventor. The lifetime of a new patent is 20 years from the date on which the application for the patent was filed in the U.S.

Patents issued by the U.S. are only effective within the United States, its territories, and possessions. This gives the inventor "the right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, or selling" their product America or importing it into the country.

Trademarks and Servicemarks

A trademark is a name, word, symbol, or device which is used in trade with goods to indicate the source of the products and to distinguish them from similar goods of other sources. When this is applied to services it is called a servicemark. Marks can prevent others from using a similar name or symbol, but not from producing the same good or performing the same service.

Copyrights

Literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and other intellectual works are under the protection of copyrights. The 1976 Copyright Act gives the owner of copyright the exclusive right to:

• Reproduce the copyrighted work
• Reproduce derivative works
• Distribute copies
• Perform or display the copyrighted work publicly

If you or someone you know is starting up a new business, or looking to secure and protect a new product or idea, you need sound legal advice on your side.

An Austin Business Lawyer Can Help

contact the Austin business lawyers of Slater Kennon & Jameson, LLP at 512.472.2431 for an initial consultation. We have the experience and know how to give your budding business or idea the guidance it needs.