IP Basics

February 15, 2017
Seminars

Shawn Leppo will be presenting IP Basics for the Central Pa Manufacturers Association on February 15, 2017 in Williamsport, PA.

About this Seminar
The phrase “Intellectual Property” refers generally to:

patents
trademarks
copyrights
trade secrets

While people sometimes use these four categories interchangeably, they protect very different things. And are commonly misunderstood!

Failure to have at least a basic understanding of each of these categories and how to use them can result in the loss of significant business assets and loss of competitive advantage. For example, some intellectual property (IP) rights require registration to provide legal protection, while others do not. Similarly, keeping secrets is imperative with some forms of protection, while other types of IP can be lost through a lack of public use.

The type of IP can also have a significant impact on whether your activities infringe on someone else’s rights. For example, patents relate to inventions and give a right to exclude (not an affirmative right to make something), meaning your activities may infringe even if you developed your product independently.

Copyrights, on the other hand, protect the expression of an idea – the fact that two books or songs are essentially identical doesn’t matter if they were truly independent creations.