According to Black’s Law Dictionary, a patent is
an “exclusive right to make, use, or sell an invention for a
specified period . . . granted by the federal government to the
inventor if the device or process is novel, useful, and nonobvious.”
Essentially, a patent gives the inventor a monopoly over the use and
sale of the invention for 20 years.
The authority for the federal government to grant
patents is found in Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution 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.” Pursuant to this grant of authority, Congress
established the patent laws for the country, and it created the
United States Patent and Trademark Office (the “USPTO”) which is
responsible for issuing patents. For general information
regarding patents and the patenting process, please visit the
USPTO’s website at
www.uspto.gov.
Research performed at the University may result
in a patentable invention. Pursuant to the Ohio Revised Code,
the University claims all rights to discoveries or inventions,
including associated patents, resulting from research or
investigation conducted in any facility of the University or
financed by the University. However, the University wants to
encourage the production of patentable inventions, so it pays the
inventor a sizeable portion of the net royalties generated by the
patent.
Copyrights at Shawnee State University
Black’s Law Dictionary defines intellectual property as “a category
of intangible rights protecting commercially valuable products of
the human intellect.” Generally speaking, the most common
intellectual property rights involve trademarks, patents, copyrights
and trade secrets. Information regarding each of these categories
can be found below.
Intellectual property rights are a tremendously important part of
the modern business and educational worlds. In fact, the University
is both an owner of numerous intellectual property rights and is
also a licensee of many third-parties’ rights.
Intellectual property rights are very valuable to their owners
because they derive license fees from their usage. Moreover, federal
and state law provide intellectual property owners with powerful
legal tools to penalize unauthorized use of their intellectual
property, including the possibility of treble damages and recoupment
of attorneys’ fees.
Accordingly, it is very important that the University properly use
the intellectual property rights of third-parties and that the
University protect its own intellectual property.
Copyright
The U.S. Copyright Office provides the following definition of a
copyright:
A Copyright is “a form of protection provided by the laws of the
United States (title 17, U. S. Code) to the authors of “original
works of authorship,” including literary, dramatic, musical,
artistic, and certain other intellectual works. This protection is
available to both published and unpublished works. Section 106 of
the 1976 Copyright Act generally gives the owner of copyright the
exclusive right to do and to authorize others to do the following:
To reproduce the work in copies or phonorecords;
To prepare derivative works based upon the work;
To distribute copies or phonorecords of the work to the public by
sale or other transfer of ownership, or by rental, lease, or
lending;
To perform the work publicly, in the case of literary, musical,
dramatic, and choreographic works, pantomimes, and motion pictures
and other audiovisual works;
To display the work publicly, in the case of literary, musical,
dramatic, and choreographic works, pantomimes, and pictorial,
graphic, or sculptural works, including the individual images of a
motion picture or other audiovisual work; and
In the case of sound recordings*, to perform the work publicly by
means of a digital audio transmission.
Copyright is most commonly associated with the production of written
works such as books, articles, etc. However, copyright protection
applies to many different types of creative works such as recorded
music, photographs, artwork, etc.
Copyright protection is created instantaneously when a work is fixed
in a tangible medium. Prior to the time that it is fixed in a
tangible medium, copyright protection does not apply. In other
words, the idea from which a work is created is not protected, but
the actual work is protected.
Even though the copyright laws provide protection from the instant a
work is created, it is often helpful to have a work filed with the
United States Copyright Office which provides some additional
protections to the author/artist to prevent infringement.
Copyright has a myriad of impacts across the University. For
example, everything from the use of copyrighted materials in
classes, to the books in the library, to the artwork in the museum,
to the use of pictures of campus, all have copyright implications.
Generally, the University recognizes that a faculty member, staff
member, or student owns his/her own work unless (1) the work was
created pursuant to an external grant or contract, or specified in
the terms of a gift, under which the copyrightable material was
produced, or (2) if the work was created in the course of performing
an explicit University assignment or commission to create such a
work.
Copyright law can be very confusing due to the fact that there are
numerous exceptions to copyright which are heavily fact-specific,
such as the “fair use” exception. Moreover, people are often
confused by the fact that a person may purchase an original work,
but the copyright ownership still resides with the original
author/artist. In this situation, each party only has certain rights
with regard to the work. Accordingly, because of the complexity of
these matters, please call our office to discuss any copyright
concerns that you may have.
For further information regarding copyright, please refer to the
following websites:
www.copyright.gov
http://www.utsystem.edu/ogc/intellectualproperty/cprtindx.htm
A site about expiration of copyright can be found at:
http://www.unc.edu/~unclng/public-d.htm
Trademarks at Shawnee State University
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office indicates that a trademark is a
word, phrase, symbol or design, or a combination of words, phrases,
symbols or designs, that identifies and distinguishes the source of
the goods of one party from those of others. Similarly, a
service mark is the same as a trademark, except that it identifies
and distinguishes the source of a service rather than a product.
In describing a trademark, Black’s Law Dictionary reads:
“[t]he main purpose of a trademark is to guarantee a product’s
genuineness. In effect, the trademark is the commercial
substitute for one’s signature.”
The University uses numerous trademarks to represent the University.
For example, the Shawnee Bear logo and the "S" logo are two of the
most commonly used trademarks. However, a trademark is not
necessarily just a symbol; it can also be certain words. The
University also has numerous word trademarks, including, for
example, the words “Shawnee State University” and “Shawnee State
University Bears” among others.
The University licenses its trademarks to certain third-parties for
the production and sale of goods and services (e.g.,
sweatshirts, school supplies, sporting equipment, video games, etc.)
In exchange, the University receives license fees based upon the
sale of these goods and services. These license fees are used
to support University scholarships.
The University aggressively protects its trademarks against
infringement. The University regularly sends cease and desist
letters to parties that are using the University’s marks without
permission. Moreover, when necessary, the University has
brought lawsuits and seized the goods of infringing parties.
For general information regarding trademarks, please refer to the following websites:
www.uspto.gov
