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copyrights, and
trademarks. Although there may be some resemblance in the
rights of these three kinds of intellectual property, they are
different and serve different purposes.
Copyrights
A copyright protects the writings of an author against
copying. Literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works are
included within the protection of the copyright law, which in
some instances also confers performing and recording rights.
The copyright goes to the form of expression rather than to the
subject matter of the writing. A description of a machine could
be copyrighted as a writing, but this would only prevent others
from copying the description; it would not prevent others from
writing a description of their own or from making and using the
machine. Copyrights are registered in the Copyright Office in
the Library of Congress. Information concerning copyrights may
be obtained from the Register of Copyrights, Library of
Congress, Washington, D.C. 20559. (Telephone 202/479-0700)
Trademarks
A trademark relates to any word, name, symbol or device
which is used in trade with goods to indicate the source or
origin of the goods and to distinguish them from the goods of
others. Trademark rights may be used to prevent others from
using a confusingly similar mark but not to prevent others from
making the same goods or from selling them under a non-
confusing mark. Similar rights may be acquired in marks used in
the sale or advertising of services (service marks). Trademarks
and service marks which are used in interstate or foreign
commerce may be registered in the Patent and Trademark Office.
The procedure relating to the registration of trademarks and
some general information concerning trademarks is given in a
pamphlet called Basic Facts About Trademarks.
PATENT LAWS
The Constitution of the United States gives Congress the
power to enact laws relating to patents. in Article I, section
8, which reads "Congress shall have power... to promote the
progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited
times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their
respective writings and discoveries." Under this power Congress
has from time to time enacted various laws relating to patents.
The first patent law was enacted in 1790. The law now in effect
is a general revision which was enacted July 19, 1952, and
which came into effect January 1, 1953. It is codified in Title
35, United States Code.
The patent law specifies the subject matter for which a
patent may be obtained and the conditions for patentability.
The law establishes the Patent and Trademark Office for
administering the law relating to the granting of patents, and
contains various other provisions relating to patents.
WHAT CAN BE PATENTED
The patent law specifies the general field of subject
matter that can be patented and the conditions under which a
patent may be obtained.
In the language of the statute, any person who "invents
or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture,
or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvements
thereof, may obtain a patent," subject to the conditions and
requirements of the law. By the word "process" is meant a
process or method, and new processes, primarily industrial or
technical processes, may be patented. The term "machine" used
in the statute needs no explanation. The term "manufacture"
refers to articles which are made, and includes all
manufactured articles. The term "composition of matter" relates
to chemical compositions and may include mixtures of ingredients
as well as new chemical compounds. These classes of subject
matter taken together include practically everything which is
made by man and the process for making them.
The Atomic Energy Act of 1954 excludes the patenting of
inventions useful solely in the utilization of special nuclear
material or atomic energy for atomic weapons.
The patent law specifies that the subject matter must be
"useful." The term "useful" in this connection refers to the
condition that the subject matter has a useful purpose and also
includes operativeness, that is, a machine which will not
operate to perform the intended purpose would not be called
useful, and therefore would not be granted a patent.
Interpretations of the statute by the courts have defined
the limits of the field of subject matter which can be
patented, thus it has been held that methods of doing business
and printed matter cannot be patented.
In the case of mixtures of ingredients, such as medicines,
a patent cannot be granted unless there is more to the mixture
than the effect of its components. (So called patent medicines
are ordinarily not patented, the phrase "patent medicine" in
this connection does not have the meaning that the medicine is
patented.) A patent cannot be obtained upon a mere idea or
suggestion. T
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