BW Online | September 1, 2000 | Laying Claim to Your Ideas

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SEPTEMBER 1, 2000

TRENDS

Laying Claim to Your Ideas
A brief guide to getting started on patents, copyright, or trademarks

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You may have a terrific idea for a new business, but it won't be worth much if someone snatches it from you. How can you protect yourself? Depending on the idea, you may want to get a patent, copyright, or trademark. How do you know what you need? An entrepreneur can go crazy trying to find the best information, so Frontier has done the legwork for you.

If you're just beginning, you can get a good overview at the Small Business Administration's online reading room. Particularly helpful is the site's Ideas into Dollars section, which covers the new-product development process and provides tips on avoiding patent, trademark, and copyright problems.

Next, head to the information-packed Web site of the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. If it's a patent you want, the best place to start is the department's Independent Inventor Resource page, where you'll find a list of what can and cannot be patented.

MAKING THE GRADE. Essentially, a patent gives you the legal right to exclude others from marketing your invention for a limited time. If your product is a process, machine, something that is manufactured, an ornamental design, or an improvement on any of these things, you may be able to get such protection. The invention must be novel, nonobvious, and adequately described or explained in your application so someone in your field can easily understand it.

You can't get a patent for laws of nature, physical phenomena, or abstract ideas. If your invention is not particularly useful or offensive to public morality, you also shouldn't bother applying.

Of course, you can't patent your idea if someone has beaten you to it, so it's important to conduct a search of existing patents. You can comb through several online databases at www.uspto.gov/patft/. If you prefer to do your research offline, there are Patent & Trademark Depository Libraries in every state. For a listing by geographical area, go to www.uspto.gov/web/offices/ac/ido/ptdl.

If you think your invention qualifies, find out how to start the application process by following the site's general-information link, or call the office at 800 PTO-9199 or 703 308-HELP. You'll need to hire a lawyer to guide you through the masses of paperwork. The USPTO has a roster of about 24,000 attorneys that it has registered to practice. You can search by geographical region at www.uspto.gov/web/offices/dcom/olia/oed/roster/index.html.

MARKING IT YOURS. If a patent isn't the way to go, you might want to look into a trademark, which can be individual words, phrases, symbols, designs, or any combination of them that identifies and distinguishes a product or service from others in the market. Registering your trademark gives you the legal heft you'll need to challenge a competitor.

All the basic information about trademarks is available at www.uspto.gov/web/offices/tac/doc/basic/index.html, where you'll also find the forms you'll need to apply. Check whether your trademark is strong by reading Trademarks and Business Goodwill at the SBA's online library.

If your invention gains value by being copied -- such as a literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic work, an architectural plan, or computer program -- you'll need a copyright (literally, the right to copy your work). You apply for this through the U.S. Copyright Office at the Library of Congress.

NO COMMON KNOWLEDGE. You can't copyright titles, names, short phrases, or slogans; familiar symbols or designs; mere variations of typographic ornamentation, lettering, or coloring; and listings of ingredients or contents, according to the Copyright Office. You also won't be able to copyright information that's common knowledge, such as standard calendars or lists or tables taken from public documents or other common sources.

Also, if you can patent your idea, you probably can't copyright it. Find out the specific procedures you'll need to follow at www.loc.gov/copyright/reg.html, and locate the application forms at www.loc.gov/copyright/forms.