| Trade Dress Protections |
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| Trade dress is governed by the same set of laws that protect unregistered trademarks. While traditional trademark law protects words or logos, trade dress law protects the total packaging and design of a product. Because trade dress often serves the same function as a trademark or service mark-the identification of goods and services in the marketplace-trade dress can be protected under the federal trademark laws and in some cases registered as a trademark or service mark with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.More... |
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| Substantial Similarity |
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| Plaintiffs may establish copyright infringement by proving that a defendant had access to the copyrighted work prior to the creation of the allegedly infringing work and that the two works are substantially similar. Generally, once a plaintiff demonstrates access and substantial similarity then the burden shifts to the defendant to prove that the allegedly infringing work is not a copy but was independently created.More... |
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| Patent Law |
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| One of the basic requirements for obtaining a patent is that the invention must be new. If the same invention has been patented before, or even written about or used for a certain amount of time before a patent is applied for, it will not be eligible for a patentMore... |
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| Patents |
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| In order to encourage the advancement of science and technology, the federal government gives an incentive to inventors to disclose new ideas that have been embodied in inventions by granting a patent, which is a temporary right to exclude others from making, using, selling, offering to sell, or importing the patented invention without the inventor's permission. Activity that encroaches upon the right given by a patent is said to infringe the patent, for which an inventor may bring a lawsuit in order to obtain a remedy.
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| The Audio Home Recording Act of 1992 |
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| The Audio Home Recording Act of 1992 (AHRA) is an amendment to the United
States Federal Copyright Act of 1976. It provides that parties who import or manufacture "digital audio recording devices and media" must make payments to the United States Copyright Office. These payments are meant to act as the royalties that those who have copyrighted music have presumably lost through the consumer use of digital audio recording devices. The royalty fees are invested in specific U.S. securities and then disbursed to copyright holders yearly through the U.S. Copyright Office
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