June 2008 Summary
Patent attorney Charles Meyer ( Woodard, Emhardt, Moriarty, McNett & Henry LLP ) led a lively discussion of intellectual property, focusing his insightful and down-to-earth presentation on patents and trademarks. Background Congress may (not must) choose to promote progress of art and technology in the United States by providing us with an intellectual property system (U.S. Constitution article 1, section 8, clause 8). Not all intellectual property contributes to progress, but some, importantly, does. You can protect your creation with a: patent , trademark , copyright , trade secret , agreement ( confidentiality and noncompete ), license and contract , and litigation . The market, not intellectual property, gives your creation monetary value. If no one will buy your product without intellectual property, they won’t buy your product with it. The main purpose of intellectual property is to protect and enhance your product’s market value. A US patent is a property right in an i