Further to that interesting item that Kelvin posted and then fortunately
provided the answer to as well in a later e-mail I thought it may be useful
to describe the UK differences between patent; trade mark; design
registration and copyright. Lucky for me there is an article on patents in
the Focus magazine of science and discovery October 2002.
A patent is an agreement by the government that grants the individual the
right to prevent anyone else from copying their invention for up to 20
years. In return the person makes public the details of the patent
application 18 months after it has been filed. This allows people to develop
their own ideas and improvements on the previous design, but not copy it
directly. The Patents Office was started in 1852 and it investigates patent
applications. Anyone can go and use the Search and Advisory Service they
offer to discover if an invention has already been patented. Focus define
invention as " a new product, a new process, a new apparatus for performing
a process, or in certain circumstances, a new use of a known product." The
last is the one that Kelvin's post refers to I think.
A trade mark is a symbol used by traders to identify their product or
service form those of others and can be words, logos, 3 dimensional shapes,
sounds, smells, jingles used to create a "distinctive image for a company".
Design registration is an exclusive right of the outward appearance of an
article.
Copyright covers original literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works.
This includes published editions, recordings, films and broadcasts, but
cannot protect an idea, only the work that expresses that idea. Copyright us
different than the others in that it automatically exists as soon as the
work does you do not have to file an application and can last for 70 years
after the death of the author. As an author you can transfer your copyright
to others and this happens if you are writing a book of collective authors.
Sorry for the digression, but I found it interesting
marcus
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