IP, therefore I am ....?
I cover "ornamental" aspects of a functional item, like the specific curve of a smartphone’s edges.
Answer: What is a Design Patent?
These numbered paragraphs at the end of a patent document define the exact legal boundaries of what the inventor owns.
Answer: What are Claims?
This symbol can be used to show a common law trademark and should not be confused with the registered trademark symbol(R).
What is ™? (Note: The ® symbol is only for official registrations).
This legal doctrine allows members of the public to use snippets of copyrighted material for purposes like research, criticism, or testing without needing the owner’s permission.
Answer: What is Fair Use?
In 1876, Elisha Gray was beaten to the patent office by just 2 hours by lawyers for A.G. Bell with a filing on this invention.
Answer: What is the telephone?
I protect the functional way an invention works and is the most common type for engineers.
Answer: What is a Utility Patent?
In the US, utility patents generally expire this many years after the earliest filing date.
Answer: What is 20 years?
This term describes the "look and feel" of a product or its packaging, like the unique shape of a Coca-Cola bottle or the interior of an Apple Store.
Answer: What is Trade Dress?
In a famous 2011 case, courts ruled that a selfie taken by a _______ could be NOT subject to copyright because there has to be a human author.
Answer: What is a monkey?
Further question for thought: What about AI?
Because the inventor of this product failed to file patents outside of his native Hungary within the one-year grace period, he lost millions in international royalties during the 1980s craze surrounding this invention.
Answer: What is the Rubik's Cube?
I protect brand names, logos, and slogans used to identify the source of goods or services.
Answer: What is a Trademark?
To be patentable, an invention must be "New," "Useful," and this third criteria, meaning it wouldn’t be predictable or routine to someone skilled in the field.
Answer: What is Non-obvious?
The maximum time period a trademark can last as long as it is still being used in commerce.
Answer: What is Forever? (Acceptable: Indefinitely)
To be legally adequate, a copyright notice must have: 1) The word copyright (or the (c) symbol); 2) The owner; and 3) _______
Answer: What is the Year of first publication?
Originally a trademark of Bayer, this common pain reliever lost its protected status in the U.S. after World War I because it became the standard name for the drug.
Answer: What is Aspirin?
In the world of software engineering, I am the specific kind of IP protection that covers the actual source code written by a developer.
Answer: What is Copyright?
This two-word term describes any evidence that your invention was already known to the world before you filed.
Answer: What is Prior Art?
The primary legal standard used to determine trademark infringement asks if a consumer would be likely to be ______ when presented with the two identifiers out in the marketplace
What is Confused?
Under this legal doctrine, if an employee creates a copyrightable work within the scope of their employment, the employer is legally considered the "author" and owner of the copyright.
Answer: What is Work Made for Hire? (Acceptable: Work for Hire)
In the US, a court can multiply a damage award of patent infringement by this factor if it finds the infringement was "willful"
Answer: What is 3X?
Unlike patents, I never expire, provided the information remains under wraps (think: the Coca-Cola formula).
Answer: What is a Trade Secret?
This type of search is conducted by a company to ensure that a new design won't get them sued by someone else.
Answer: What is an FTO (Freedom to Operate) search
Also acceptable: Patent Clearance
If a brand name becomes so common it’s used as a verb or a general noun (like "to Google" or "a Kleenex"), it risks losing protection through this process.
Answer: What is Genericide? (Acceptable: Becoming Generic)
Since 1976, the legal effect of saying "All Rights Reserved"
Answer: Zilch.
A US Court can award up to this amount per copyright violation even if the plaintiff cannot prove any economic harm.
$30K ($150K if the violation is deemed "willful")