Ensure eSignature Legality for Assignment of Intellectual Property in the United States

How to eSign a document: eSignature legality for Assignment of intellectual property in United States

Hi there this is Kristen. I'm the Science and  Engineering Librarian at Miami University.   This is the first in a short series of videos  on searching for and deciphering U.S. patents.   This is the first one and we'll be covering what  a patent is and how it's different from other   kinds of intellectual property. Okay so on this  screen we have three things: copyright, trademark,   and patents. They are all kinds of intellectual  property. But before we get into these though,   let me just say that these are legal matters -  all three of them and it can get very complicated,   and there's usually lawyers involved. It's  also a very different system outside the U.S.   This video series is just talking about the United  States, in a very general way. I'm a librarian,   not a lawyer. I can only give general information  and not legal advice. Okay, copyright. Generally,   copyright protects: books, maps, literary works  of fiction and non-fiction, music, plays, scripts,   pictures, motion pictures, sound recordings, and  other digital or analog methods of production,   either published or unpublished. In the United  States, people don't need to register their   things for copyright - it's done automatically. If  you're interested, there's more information on the   screen, so go ahead and pause if you'd like to  read through that. Next, we have trademarks. A   trademark is an image, logo, name, or phrase, used  to indicate the source of goods and distinguish   them from others. They serve a social function for  consumers to know what, or from who a product is   from. So, they are basically for brands, and again  there are more details on the screen if you would   like to read those. Um, go ahead and pause the  video while you do that. And we'll round out with   patents. Which are for inventions. Patents grant  the holder exclusive rights to manufacture, use,   sell, or build upon the technology - essentially a  state granted limited monopoly. There is no global   patent system, however there are treaties  that ensure mutual respect for patents.   Unlike copyright, patents must be registered in  the United States. Patents expire after 20 years,   typically, and then it's in the public domain for  anybody to use. In the United States, there are   three kinds of patents: utility, design and plant.  The definitions here on the screen are directly   from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, which  oversees the patents in the United States. So,   there are three criteria that need to be fulfilled  in order to have a patent granted to you,   in the United States. The invention needs to  be useful and have a purpose. It also needs to   be novel or original, so no prior art or works  basically that somebody else has already done.   And it needs to be non-obvious to a person with  ordinary skills in the area of the technology   related to the invention. Okay that's enough to  cover in the first video in our patent series.   So, here's just a quick review. We talked about  three different kinds of intellectual property.   Copyright, which is basically for literary  and artistic works. Trademarks, which is   basically for brands. And patents, which are for  inventions. Thanks for watching this video. I   hope it was informative. There's another video  in the series about searching for U.S. patents,   and yet another for deciphering U.S.  patents, once you have found them.   They are very different from research articles  when it comes to searching and reading them,   so stay tuned for tips - and as always let  us know if you have questions. Thanks again.