Entrepreneurship CHAPTER 8 SECTION 1

 When you develop a new product or service, you create an asset that must be protected.  Intellectual property law – the group of laws that regulates the ownership and use of creative works  Protecting an invention falls under patent law.  Protecting a logo for a business is a trademark issue.  Writing music, software, or books involves copyright law.

 Trade secrets include anything not covered under patents, trademarks, or copyrights.  Uniform Trade Secrets Act (UTSA) – trade secrets may consist of a formula, device, idea, process, pattern, or compilation of information that is not general knowledge to or accessible by other people

 Companies often ask employees and others to sign confidentiality agreements that detail what is considered a trade secret.  Patent – a document that grants an inventor the right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention during the term of the patent

 A non-provisional patent lasts for a period of 20 years from the date of application.  Once the patent expires the patent is placed in public domain.  The public domain comprises all intellectual property whose protection has expired.

 To qualify for a patent, the invention must meet four rules: 1.Must not contain prior art. 2.Must fit into one of five classes: 1.A machine 2.A process 3.Articles of manufacture 4.A composition 5.New use for one of the four categories

3. Invention must be “unobvious”. 4. Invention must have utility.  Provisional patent – lasts for 12 months and protects the invention while the non-provisional patent application is being processed  There are patent attorneys to help when writing a patent application.

 Patent pending – the status of an invention between the time a patent application has been filed and when it is issued or rejected  Patent infringement occurs when someone makes and sells a product that contains all elements of a patent claim.

 Copyright – legal device that protects original works of authors  A copyright lasts for the life of the author plus 70 years. It protects only the form in which the idea is presented.  Trademark – a word, symbol, design, or color that a business uses to identify itself with something it sells

 A word, symbol, design, or color that describes a service business is called a service mark.  Trademark provides legal protection.  Trademark can be held indefinitely unless it becomes common usage in the English language.  Permit or license – legal document giving official permission to run a business

 Contract – binding legal agreement between two or more persons or parties  Oral contract – unwritten contract that does not last for more than one year  Void contract – never existed because the parties did not have the capacity to enter into the contract

 Valid contract – most common for businesses because it meets several important criteria  An agreement occurs when one party to a contract makes an offer or promises to do or refrain from doing something, and the other party accepts.  Consideration – is what is exchanged for the promise

 Capacity – the legal ability to enter into a binding agreement  For a contract to be valid, it must be legal.  Cities typically designate zones, zones are usually specified as residential, commercial, industrial, or public.  A lease is a contract to use a facility or equipment for a specified period of time.  Lessee – person leasing  Lessor – person who owns what is being leased