On Wednesday, November 28, 2001, at 07:29 , F=E1bio Palma wrote:
> PS.: Only one question: Do anyone think that I'll need to copyright =
this
> thing(the intrernational copyright id too expensive), or the guys here=20=
> are
> very polite, and will not buy if from anyone that copied if from my=20
> project?
Well, intellectual property is quite a complex matter that cannot be=20
explained in a few lines, but I will try to give a bit of an overview =
...
There is no formal procedure for registering a copyright. The copyright=20=
is an ownership right you automatically have when you create something=20=
in written form. Thus, the design and any documentation, or software you=20=
create is automatically protected if you can show that it was you who=20
created it.
The best way to establish a claim is therefore to publish a web page=20
where you show a sample of the design, i.e. a photograph of the finished=20=
board and describe it's features. Then you will put a copyright note=20
onto each page on the web site saying something like "Design,=20
documentation and software comprising the <NewtUSB> product are the=20
intellectual property of <Fabio Palma> and protected under international=20=
copyright laws. Reproduction of any components even partially without=20
prior written permission of <Fabio Palma> is prohibited and any=20
unauthorised reproduction will be prosecuted or something like that.
If anybody later copies your work and says they have been first, then=20
the website and any documentation you have produced with dates on it=20
will be usable as proof to when you have been laying claim to your=20
creation. And postings to this newsgroup where you can announce your=20
product will end up in the archive which also can later serve as proof=20=
that you had something on offer at a certain date.
Other than that, you can register the name of your creation as a=20
trademark, i.e. NewtUSB or whatever you fancy and then nobody will be=20
allowed to use that name for any product related to PDAs.
There are two kinds of trademarks. Registered trademarks and common law=20=
trademarks.
A registered trademark will require formal registration and you need to=20=
go to a trademark lawyer to do it and it will cost money. A registered=20=
trademark is denoted by an "R" in a circle, i.e. NewtUSB(R).
A common law trademark is a trademark you establish by using the name=20
and declaring that you consider it yours. This is again best achieved by=20=
putting a note on some publication like a brochure or a web site, i.e.=20=
NewtUSB is a trademark of Fabio Palma. A common law trademark is denoted=20=
by "tm".
The benefit of a registered trademark is that there is a public binding=20=
record of your trademark. You can always proof that the trademark is=20
yours and it is almost impossible to dispute the trademark.
The common law trademark is easier to establish, but someone in a=20
foreign country may use the same name for a product in the same category=20=
and also claim a trademark for it. It would then be up to a court to=20
decide who was first and can rightfully claim the trademark.
There are 42 categories for trademarks. So if someone uses "NewtUSB" for=20=
their New tasteful Uganda Starch Beer then that would be in a different=20=
category and there would be no conflict with your NewtUSB interface for=20=
the Newton.
Also, trademarks, common law or registered, have to be actively in use=20=
otherwise they expire. You cannot register a trademark and never use it=20=
then lay claim to it if someone else uses the name eventually.
Further to trademarks, you can file a patent. However, a patent can only=20=
be filed for an invention, not a design. Thus, if your design is prior=20=
art (meaning it is based on existing engineering knowledge) you cannot=20=
file a patent. If your design is novel (enhances the existing knowledge=20=
of humankind) than you may be able to file a patent for it. A USB=20
interface for the Newton is therefore unlikely to qualify as an=20
invention under the patent law. This is because there are already USB=20
interfaces for other computing platforms and therefore prior art. The=20
fact that a USB interface is novel for the the Newton platform doesn't=20=
make it novel in terms of enhancing the prior art. However, if you have=20=
found out a new way to build a USB interface to work more efficiently=20
than how USB interfaces work today, that would possibly qualify for a=20
patent as it enhances the prior art.
Filing a patent can be a time consuming and expensive process though.
At first a provisional patent can be filed, which has the advantage that=20=
it allows amendments to be made to it for the duration of 12 months of=20=
the priority date (the date of filing as confirmed by the patent=20
office). After that, such a patent may be filed under the PCT treaty,=20
which gives worldwide protection for up to 30 months from the priority=20=
date. After that, a patent will need to be filed separately in each=20
country where protection is sought, which is called national phase and=20=
that is when it starts getting expensive.
The cost for a provisional patent filing can be very reasonable=20
depending on the country it is filed. In Australia, where I once filed a=20=
number of patents, the cost for the provisional filing was in the order=20=
of 1500-2000 USD, quite reasonable. The same would have cost 5-10 times=20=
as much in the EU.
The filing fee for a PCT filing is 3500 USD plus some minor local=20
expenses incurred by the patent attorneys. However, when it comes to the=20=
national phase the cost can easily go into the hundred thousands of=20
dollars. A patent translation into Japanese for filing in Japan may cost=20=
30-50 thousand USD plus the national filing fee and fees for patent=20
attorneys in Japan. In Europe the filing fee is in the order of 18000=20
USD for some 15 to 20 countries and most European languages are fine, so=20=
you don't need a translation if your original filing was in English or=20=
in Portuguese (even though I am not sure about Portuguese being accepted=20=
by the European Patent Office).
Translating patents is a very painful and therefore costly process. This=20=
has to do with the fact that translators have to know the Legalese and=20=
also the technical skills of the underlying technology. As if this=20
wasn't already making it expensive enough, the requirement is that the=20=
translation must follow exactly the same structure line by line as the=20=
original. In other words, what is on page 15 line 25 in the Japanese=20
translation must match exactly what is on page 15 line 25 in the English=20=
orginal. This is because if there is any dispute in a court, the patent=20=
lawyers of the English speaking patent holders will argue like "...but=20=
on page 15 line 25 it says ..." and the Japanese court will be using the=20=
Japanese translation, so the lines must match up.
This can be quite a challenge for the translators. For example in=20
European languages we say "... the USB circuit #15 is connected to the=20=
USB standard connector #20 through shielded wire #35 ..." but in=20
Japanese it will have a structure like " ... #15 which is referred to as=20=
a circuit of type USB and #20 which is referred to as a connector of=20
type standard USB, in between them there is #35 referred to as a=20
connection with a wire which is shielded ...". So, if you have a line=20
break somewhere then you're out of luck and the line numbers won't match=20=
up anymore but you can't just change the order because of the Japanese=20=
grammar.
In English we say "C is between B and A" - In Japanese it is "A and B=20
between there is C", or for the programmers on the list, English mostly=20=
uses infix and prefix notation, i.e. 1 + 5 =3D 6 or SUM ( 1, 5) =3D 6 =
while=20
Japanese is a postfix language like HP calculators, Postscript and=20
Forth, i.e. 1 <enter> 5 + or (1, 5) +
There are more Languages like this and there are even more exotic ones=20=
which if you want to file a patent in the respective countries to stop=20=
them people from copycat manufacturing your invention without paying=20
royalties, you will have to shell out $$$ for translating your patent=20
before you can file there and that can get rather expensive as the above=20=
should illustrate.
Anyway, I don't think that a patent filing will apply to your NewtUSB=20
circuitry. So, don't forget to etch a copyright note onto the circuit=20
board, i.e. (c) 2001 Fabio Palma and hope nobody will be too nasty=20
stealing your work.
looking forward to your USB interface for the Newton
kind regards
BK
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