INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY FOR THE GENERAL PRACTITIONER Sponsor: Young Lawyers Division CLE Credit: 1.0 Thursday, June 22, 2017 3:45 p.m. - 4:45 p.m. West Ballroom A-B Owensboro Convention Center Owensboro, Kentucky A NOTE CONCERNING THE PROGRAM MATERIALS The materials included in this Kentucky Bar Association Continuing Legal Education handbook are intended to provide current and accurate information about the subject matter covered. No representation or warranty is made concerning the application of the legal or other principles discussed by the instructors to any specific fact situation, nor is any prediction made concerning how any particular judge or jury will interpret or apply such principles. The proper interpretation or application of the principles discussed is a matter for the considered judgment of the individual legal practitioner. The faculty and staff of this Kentucky Bar Association CLE program disclaim liability therefore. Attorneys using these materials, or information otherwise conveyed during the program, in dealing with a specific legal matter have a duty to research original and current sources of authority. Printed by: Evolution Creative Solutions 7107 Shona Drive Cincinnati, Ohio 45237 Kentucky Bar Association TABLE OF CONTENTS The Presenter .................................................................................................................. i I. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY SUBJECT MATTER ............................................ 1 A. Copyright.................................................................................................. 1 1. Idea/Expression ............................................................................ 2 2. Originality ..................................................................................... 2 3. Historical Facts ............................................................................. 4 4. Effect of Registration .................................................................... 5 5. Ownership Issues ......................................................................... 5 6. Duration of Copyright .................................................................... 6 B. Trademark ................................................................................................ 6 1. Policy Justification for Trademark Protection ................................ 7 2. Significance of Registration .......................................................... 7 3. Marks which are not Registrable ................................................... 8 a. Immoral or Scandalous Matter .......................................... 8 b. Deceptive Matter ............................................................... 9 c. Matter which may Disparage ............................................. 9 d. False Suggestion of Association ..................................... 10 e. Government Insignia ....................................................... 10 f. Personal Indicia .............................................................. 11 g. Confusing Similarity ........................................................ 11 h. Dilutive Marks ................................................................. 11 i. Descriptiveness ............................................................... 12 j. Deceptively Misdescriptive Terms ................................... 14 k. Surnames ....................................................................... 14 4. "Secondary Meaning" ................................................................. 14 5. "Presumption" of Secondary Meaning......................................... 16 6. Duration of Trademark ................................................................ 16 C. Patent .................................................................................................... 16 1. Novelty ....................................................................................... 17 2. Ownership Issues ....................................................................... 17 3. Duration of Patent Rights ............................................................ 18 D. Trade Secrets ........................................................................................ 18 II. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY OFFENSES ....................................................... 19 A. Copyright Infringement ........................................................................... 19 1. Prima Facie Case ....................................................................... 20 2. Presumption of Copying ............................................................. 21 3. "Fair Use" ................................................................................... 21 B. Trademark Infringement: "Likelihood of Confusion" ................................ 22 1. Strength of Mark ......................................................................... 24 2. Relatedness of Goods or Services .............................................. 26 3. Similarity of Marks ...................................................................... 27 4. Evidence of Actual Confusion ..................................................... 28 5. Marketing Channels Used .......................................................... 29 6. Likely Degree of Purchaser Care ................................................ 29 7. Intent .......................................................................................... 30 8. Likelihood of Expansion of Product Lines ................................... 30 C. Trademark Dilution ................................................................................. 30 D. Patent Infringement ................................................................................ 32 1. Literal Infringement ..................................................................... 32 a. Step One: Interpretation of "Claims" ................................ 32 b. Step Two: Comparing the Claim to Accused Device ....... 34 2. Infringement by Equivalents ........................................................ 34 a. Two-tiered Test ............................................................... 34 b. Function/Way/Result ....................................................... 35 c. "Element-by-Element" Comparison ................................. 36 E. Trade Secret Misappropriation ............................................................... 38 1. The View in Kentucky: Pre-1900 – the "Dictum" ......................... 39 2. The Current Law in Kentucky ...................................................... 40 THE PRESENTER Jack A. Wheat McBrayer, McGinnis, Leslie & Kirkland, PLLC 9300 Shelbyville Road, Suite 110 Louisville, Kentucky 40222 (502) 327-5400 [email protected] JACK A. WHEAT is a member of McBrayer, McGinnis, Leslie & Kirkland, PLLC in Louisville and practices in the area of intellectual property law. He received his B.A. from Hanover College and his J.D. from the Louis D. Brandeis School of Law at the University of Louisville. Mr. Wheat is a member of the Louisville, Kentucky and American Bar Associations, International Trademark Association, and Litigation Counsel of America. i ii INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY 101: A NON-SPECIALIST'S GUIDE TO THE BASICS OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAW Jack A. Wheat By definition, "intellectual property" involves products of one's intellect which, by law, can constitute "property." To encourage innovation and creativity, a "bundle of rights" are awarded for technological developments and other creative endeavors, including the right for a period of time to exclude others from directly profiting from the ingenuity of the developer of those materials. Much like a forbidden trespass, should a trade pirate seek to misappropriate the fruits of the another's intellectual labors, the law often deems such piracy as unlawful, that is to say, an "infringement" of an intellectual property right. I. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY SUBJECT MATTER A. Copyright Copyright law is the vehicle through which an "Author" can obtain property rights associated with artistic or literary works. More specifically, (a) Copyright protection subsists . in original works of authorship fixed in any tangible medium of expression, now known or later developed, from which they can be perceived, reproduced or otherwise communicated, either directly or with the aid of a machine or device. Works of authorship include the following categories. (1) literary works; (2) musical works, including any accompanying words; (3) dramatic works, including any accompanying music; (4) pantomimes and choreographic works; (5) pictorial, graphic and sculptural works; (6) motion pictures and other audiovisual works; and (7) sound recordings; and (8) architectural works (b) In no case does copyright protection for an original work of authorship extend to any idea, procedure, process, system, method of operation, concept, principle or discovery, regardless of the form in which it is described, explained, illustrated or embodied in such work. 17 U.S.C. §102. (Emphasis added.) Assuming the work is within the categories of copyrightable material, the most significant requirements are that the work be "original" and that the work consist of something more than a generalized "idea." 1 1. Idea/expression. "The most fundamental axiom of copyright law is that '[n]o author may copyright his ideas.'" Feist Publications, Inc. v. Rural Telephone Service Co., Inc., 499 U.S. 340, 344-45, 18 USPQ 2d 1275, 1277 (1991). Rather, the copyrightable subject matter is the specific manner in which the idea