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Written by : Yasmin Orlof |
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can i get a design and utility patent on the books i don't believe a copyright will protect me because anyone could copy the technique the same technique can be used to teach other high school math and science subjects to elementary students cool okay well my first punch is that if you've if you've come across a you know a teaching style a a method of teaching um you know math right teaching them algebra and it's a process that may be eligible as a method or a process if you've got it down to you know using math terms or like a lowest common denominator number of steps or the core number of steps and that's sure you could add you know a hundred other steps to add on to it but there's a core set of things principles and order operations in order to get them to learn and absorb that material it's possible that a teaching method is eligible as a type 4 process or method patent the question is is that the best way to enforce your rights in terms of what your overall goal is okay and so going going forward with a patent the goal is monetary right the goal is to make money and so if your goal is to make money you got to make sure you think through the business plan of what you're going for and so if you are you know hoping to have a exclusive right to that method individually you've got to make sure obviously one that your employer doesn't already have rights to what you're creating and some folks that have jobs in a public institution certainly within a large private company you will be obligated to assign all your inventions to your employer so first of all make sure that is true uh but assuming you are an independent teacher or you've got no employment contract that would obligate you to assign your inventions you then think okay well if i'm the only one that's able to you know practice this method is it going to serve me to grow a company and start you know a curriculum based on this method that i've come up with and enforce your rights then the following question is okay will you actually be able to tell if someone is infringing your method right and that's a hard thing to do for most methods and processes by from the public's perspective right you've got you know a competitor mr and mrs teacher x that have somehow gotten your you know got your formula and they're using your method uh the trick will be can you tell from from your public perception or maybe from speaking with that you know mr and mrs teacher x's uh students that they are following your patented method so that's the question but that's the reverse engineerability test will you be able to tell uh from the outside that infringer is using your method and if you think you can if there's some definitive markers or things that are mentioned and it's definitive then i think it is worth um going for patent protection if not and it's tenuous you're not quite sure if there'd be if it'd be easy to enforce i would advise you to go toward the path of copyright okay and i would encourage you to think about copyright in terms of what's written right in a physical book in digital format and can protect individual artists that are creators of curriculum and that is generally the sort of the go-to uh for for most curriculum-based no teaching methods is relying on copyright and copyright does allow you protections for for actual written work and prevents reproduction of the actual work okay and also derivative works and that's there's some complicated terms with derivatives but it does mean they see a change or a subtle modification to that original work you would also have ownership of that okay so harley looks like you have all the rights on your own you've conducted the research yourself well that's really good well i think um that's as far as i want to take it for now
Thanks for your comment Anette Revera, have a nice day.
- Yasmin Orlof, Staff Member
hello everybody today my partner henning hartwick and i will address some issues regarding the complex relationship between trademarks and designs actually we have seen a lot of cases in the past and also recently of conflicts between trademarks and designs involving icons such as the stabilo pencil or the vespa scooter or the rubik's cube absolutely it's not only about conflicts but about overlap and even overreach i think this comparison is fascinating because it's not about conflict only but about coexistence in terms of comparison there are remarkable similarities between brand and design protection in europe both may cover the same subject matter the shape of a product for example and once registered both provide for eu-wide protection indeed also when it comes to customs both can be enforced if handled properly as regards procedural aspects both have the same remedy and jurisdiction but there's one big difference between trademark and design protection yes trademarks are checked for absolute grounds while in europe designs are not examined on the merits so you should be less sure about the scope and strength of your design right in comparison with the trademark having passed the strict office examination that's true however with trademark owners challenges arise post-registration you must monitor your market and competitors and start using your mark the scope and strength of your trademark is flexible depending on your own effort whereas with designs like patents this is static post registration in other words where you should invest some time and money when creating a design in order to make sure it's new and has individual character over any other proud design at the time of filing you have to invest after filing a mark enforcing monitoring advertising so what does the perfect plan look like filing both ip rights simultaneously or would the filing of one ip write adversely affect the other would it be better to wait with your trademark filing in order not to jeopardize your design filing i would start by filing the mark if i had to choose there is a 12-month grace period under european design law allowing clients to test the market so filing during that period filing a mark during a period would not compromise the design that's true and also there's no novelty test and no prior use defense this means if a third party registers your right then that party would have the benefit of the earlier rights and that must be avoided thank you for your attention we appreciate you stopping by should you wish to learn more please visit our website and download our ip brochures and please feel free to also call into our ip experts live webinars you can ask all your questions there you
Thanks kunnandiK your participation is very much appreciated
- Yasmin Orlof
About the author
I've studied econometrics at Methodist College in Peoria and I am an expert in paleobiology. I usually feel energetic. My previous job was laboratory tester I held this position for 11 years, I love talking about couponing and cardistry. Huge fan of Banksy I practice skeleton and collect games.
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