Intellectual property law: patents, trademarks and copyrights

Author: Miller
Publisher:
Publication Date: 2004-01-01
Features: In the field of American legal education and legal practice, "Essentials of American Law" is a distinctive series of books. The most prominent feature of this series is its conciseness and clarity, making complex legal principles accessible. Many law students use this series as supplementary material outside of class, thereby grasping the essence of major areas of American law. Practicing lawyers also frequently rely on this series to quickly familiarize themselves with unfamiliar areas of law or review previously studied courses. It is believed that this series will also be well-received by domestic readers. Whether you are an undergraduate or graduate student in law, a practicing lawyer, or someone else, you can gain a wealth of knowledge about American law from this series, which will be beneficial to your studies and work.
The term "intellectual property" refers to a group of rights. Traditionally, this group includes patents, trademarks, and copyrights. The protection of these three rights constitutes the basic framework of modern intellectual property systems. Intellectual property textbooks and courses typically cover these three rights as well. In common law countries like the United States, in addition to statutory protection, intellectual property is also protected through case law.
The book "Intellectual Property Law: Patents, Trademarks, and Copyrights" systematically and clearly discusses the basic content of the American intellectual property system from the perspective of fundamental principles, statutory provisions, and case law rules. It can serve as a foundational text for Chinese readers to understand the American intellectual property system. The book is divided into three parts: patents, trademarks, and copyrights.
### Part on Patents
The section on patents covers the following key topics:
- Basics of Patent Protection: This includes the origin and development of U.S. patent law, fundamental principles of patent protection, and theories of patent protection.
- Objects of Patent Protection: This discusses ideas and applications, statutory scope, method inventions, distinctions among three types of product inventions, patents related to computers, plant patents, and design patents.
- Patentability—Novelty and Legal Barriers: This covers foreign prior patents or publications, domestic prior patents or prior use, disclosure and limited disclosure, and priority.
- Patentability—Utility: This includes substantial utility and presumed utility.
- Patentability—Non-obviousness: This covers invention and non-obviousness, negative rules for inventions, statutory examination, and the relationship between non-obviousness and novelty.
- Patent Acquisition Process: This discusses patentees, co-inventors, specifications and claims, duties of good faith, and judicial review.
- Infringement of Patent Rights: This covers estoppel (in application documents), interpretation of claims, patent rights, direct, indirect, and joint infringement, repair and rework, and defenses—such as abuse of rights and prior user defenses.
- Remedies: This includes injunctive relief, damages, and attorney fees.
- Interaction Between Patent Law and State/Federal Regulations:
### Part on Trademarks
The section on trademarks covers the following key topics:
- Basics of Trademark Protection: This includes the origin and development of trademark law, common law trademarks, and federal registration.
- Distinctiveness: This covers different markets, prior use, secondary meaning and descriptiveness, and prohibitions on surnames, geographical indications, and immoral trademarks.
- Dilution and Expansion of Trademark Principles: This covers trademarks and reputation, dilution possibilities, protected interests, state anti-dilution laws, and federal anti-dilution laws.
- Loss and Partial Protection of Trademark Rights: This covers partial rights, concurrent registration, abandonment, and uncontestability.
- Trademark Practice: This discusses first use in commerce and rights to sue.
- Objects of Trademark Protection: This includes certification marks, collective marks, and service marks.
- Infringement of Trademark Rights: This covers trademark similarity, similarity of goods or services, market characteristics and similarity, defenses—such as fair use and indirect use, and gray market goods.
- Remedies: This includes injunctive relief, damages, and attorney fees.
### Part on Copyrights
The section on copyrights covers the following key topics:
- Basics of Copyright Protection: This includes the origin and development of copyright law, copyright statutes, the distinction between common law and statutory copyright, and fundamental principles of copyright protection.
- Objects of Copyright Protection: This includes originality, copyrightable works, creation and fixation, computer programs, the Semiconductor Chip Protection Act, and copyright registration and notice procedures.
- Exclusive Rights: This covers reproduction, derivative works, distribution, performance, display, digital transmission of performances, and other rights related to digital technology.
- Infringement of Copyrights: This covers infringement evidence, infringement of musical works, and infringement of literary works.
- Fair Use: This includes the dynamic nature of fair use, purpose and character of use, nature of the work, proportion and substantiality of use, impact on the market for the original work, parody and satire, and fair use versus free expression.
- Ownership of Copyrights: This covers multiple claims to copyright, rights of co-authors, copyright term, termination of transfer, and employee works.
- Formal Requirements: This includes registration and notice.
- Remedies: This covers injunctive relief, damages and profits, criminal penalties, attorney fees and litigation costs.
- Interaction Between Copyright Law and State/Federal Regulations: This covers the principle of federal law supremacy, state law remedies, federal law remedies, moral rights, and the Berne Convention.
- International Agreements: This includes national treatment and minimum standards, GATT, NAFTA, and TRIPS, and the Special 301 provision.