General Questions & Answers

• How do I know I can trust you?
• What is IP?
• What is a Trade Secret?
• What are Claims?
• Helpful links for the Inventors and those looking for patents, trademarks, and copyrights.

How do I know I can trust you?

The Law Office of Steven B. Leavitt hereby agrees that any Information pertaining to invention(s), idea(s), and the like provided by the Inventor(s) named in this Invention Disclosure Form with not be revealed, used, disclosed, sold, or transferred without the express authorization of the Inventor(s). We are bound by the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct and the United States Patent and Trademark Office Rules of Ethics.

Back to Top

What is IP?

Intellectual Property (IP) is a creation by human intellect having commercial value. Intellectual property law allows people and businesses to protect their rights by affording to them an opportunity to stop trespassers and, in many cases, recover damages.

Intellectual Property (IP) can be broken down into 4 main areas:

• Patents
  Provide inventors and those with rights to inventions the exclusive right for a limited period of time to prevent anyone else from making, using, selling, or importing the inventions. Patents are granted on machines, articles of manufacture (devices), compositions of matter (materials), processes (methods), and improvements of any of these.
• Trademarks
  Consist of words, phrases, symbols, logos, designs, sounds, and others that identify sources of products or services (Service Mark) in the marketplace. Businesses use trademarks and service marks to help distinguish their products and services from others to create product recognition and brand loyalty.
• Copyrights
  Rights granted to owners of creative original works of authorship that are fixed in a tangible medium of expression. A copyright applies to the literal expression of an idea, not the underlying idea or concept. As soon as an expression is placed onto a tangible medium (paper, film, recording, CD-ROM, sculpture, and many others), the copyright comes into existence. Registering the copyright with the U.S. Copyright Office creates a legal presumption that 1) the copyright is legitimate and 2) allows the copyright owner to recover damages (compensation) without the need to prove any actual harm. Types of works that can be copyrighted include: photographs, movies, videos, recordings of music and speeches, song lyrics, musical compositions, choreography, books, poems, manuscripts, paintings, sketches, sculptures, architectural designs, computer programs, maps, models, crafts, jewelry, and many more.
• Trade Secrets
  A broad term to cover secret information that is defined by how it is treated and protected. It provides an owner of the information with a market advantage over its competitors. To enforce a Trade Secret action, an owner must show that the Trade Secret has been maintained in a way that reasonably anticipates preventing others from learning about it. Unlike patents, trademarks, and copyrights, there is no registration with a government agency. Types of information that can be a Trade Secret include customer lists, marketing and sales information, compositions, processes, devices, designs, formulas, recipes, and others.

Back to Top

What is a Trade Secret?

Information such as a device, idea, process, formula, pattern, or compilation of information that provides one with a competitive advantage and is treated in a protected way to prevent anyone in the public from learning about it.

Essentially, it can be anything that a party desires to keep secret.

Trade Secrets usually include such things as the manufacturing details for a product, variations or alternative uses for products, methods for doing business or customer lists or client information.

Trade Secrets are controlled by state law.

In most states, a Trade Secret may be almost anything that confers a competitive advantage to the owner of the Trade Secret.

Back to Top

What are Claims?

Particular statements made in a patent application defining the invention which are used by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to determine patentability and by a court to determine whether a patent has been infringed.

Back to Top