Books by
      James Rogers:

       

The Complete Patent Book.  Everything an inventor needs to know to navigate the often complex patent application process, including maintaining and protecting the newly issued patent.

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Profit From Intellectual Property.  A step-by-step guide to licensing intellectual property and the mechanics of drafting a basic license agreement; also contains an introduction to the basics of patents, copyrights, and trademarks.

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Intellectual property is a general area of law which grants individuals and companies the exclusive right (typically for a limited time) to their creations -- whether inventions, artistic works, names used in busines, or confidential information. While intellectual property consists primarily of the rights of patent, trademark, copyright, and trade secrets.

The following outlines some of the basics of these rights. Please call us for more information.


Obtaining a Patent

The first stage in consideration of a patent should be whether or not your invention is novel. If your invention does not include some feature which is significantly different then what is already known in your art, then you are unlikely to be successful in obtaining a patent down the line.

Another consideration should be whether or not your invention will offer some advantage over what is already known in the art. Rogers IP Group can assist you in determining your chances of obtaining a patent through a patent search and opinion as to patentability should you wish to go this route. In the alternative, you can do much of your own patent searching at the US Patent & Trademark Office to come up with your own opinion as to the novelty of your invention.


Trademarking a Business or Product Name

It’s a good idea to start trademark considerations with a search as to the uniqueness of your name. Quick ("knockout") searches can be done at U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. In addition to search at the patent office, you should also do searches on the internet. This is because US trademark law is unique in that people can acquire rights to names/marks through the mere use of such marks.

While trademarking a name or mark offers significant advantages, a prior user of a mark/name that you wish to use will have superior rights to you if they can prove that they have been using such a mark before you start to use the mark. Rogers IP Group can perform trademark searches for you. In addition, we can render opinions as to whether or not your mark has a likelihood of success before your apply for the trademark. This can save expense for you in the end.


Copyrighting a Creative Work

People often ask how do I obtain a copyright? Obtaining a copyright actually occurs as soon as you express your original idea onto some tangible medium. This medium can be paper (as with a novel) or even on a web page or some other electronic medium.

Even though the mere reduction of your idea onto some tangible medium creates a copyright, there are significant advantages to registering your work with the United States Copyright Office. The fees to do this a extremely cheap as far as intellectual property protection goes. For a very reasonable fee, RogersIpGroup will register your copyright for you.


Trade Secrets

You might be surprised to learn that most proprietary information at companies is never trademarked or patented at all. Instead, most of this information whether it be in the form of customer lists or general technical know-how is maintained as a trade secret.

The main point to know about trade secrets is that you must take steps to protect such information such as through confidentiality agreements and the like to keep such information a secret. Once this information is inadvertently disclosed to the public, it is no longer a secret and rights associated with such a trade secret are thereby lost.


Licensing

Licensing is one of the best ways for start-up companies and individuals to commercialize and make money from their invention. The reason for this is simple. Most start-up companies and individuals simply do not have the resources to bring an invention to the market place. How then can such an inventor make money off their invention?

The answer is by aligning yourself (licensing) with a larger company with the resources to do this. When you give a license to a larger company, you are referred to as the "licensor." However, many smaller companies are also interested in taking licenses from other companies so that they can add existing products without getting sued for patent infringement. When you take a license from someone else you are now referred to as the "licensee."