What is intellectual property law?

The four branches

• Patent — inventions and designs. Federal registration required. 20 years from filing for utility patents.
• Copyright — original works fixed in a tangible form: text, software, music, film, photographs. Protection arises automatically on creation; registration is still needed before suing and to obtain statutory damages. Life of the author plus 70 years, or 95 years from publication for works made for hire.
• Trademark — names, logos, slogans and other source identifiers. Rights come from use in commerce; federal registration adds nationwide priority and stronger remedies. Renewable indefinitely while the mark is used.
• Trade secret — formulas, processes, customer lists and other information with value from being secret. Protection lasts as long as secrecy is maintained through reasonable measures; the federal Defend Trade Secrets Act allows suit in federal court.

Choosing between them

The same asset can qualify for more than one. Software may be copyrighted as code, patented as a process, branded by trademark and kept partly as a trade secret. Patent and trade secret pull in opposite directions: a patent requires publication, a trade secret requires silence, and once disclosed the choice cannot be undone.

The mistake businesses repeat

Ownership. Work created by an employee within the scope of employment generally belongs to the employer, but work by a contractor does not — absent a written assignment it stays with the contractor, whatever the invoice says. Written assignment and confidentiality terms signed before the work begins are what prevent this, and it is the single most common defect found during due diligence.