{"id":215,"date":"2007-03-21T02:19:32","date_gmt":"2007-03-21T00:19:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alax.info\/blog\/215"},"modified":"2007-03-21T11:01:02","modified_gmt":"2007-03-21T09:01:02","slug":"intellectual-property-trademark-copyright-patent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alax.info\/blog\/215","title":{"rendered":"Intellectual Property: Trademark, Copyright, Patent"},"content":{"rendered":"

An educating post from Joe Andrieu<\/a> on Microsoft<\/a>‘s Ribbon UI:<\/p>\n

There are a few ways that courts currently recognize Intellectual Property protection. I’m not a lawyer, but I have taken a few classes and dealt with it as a technology entrepreneur. So, take this with a grain of salt, especially as I am likely to be too
\nbroad or simplistic here.<\/p>\n

The most likely protection they would use would be trademark, copyright, and
\npatent. These are often jointly described as
\nIntellectual Property, but are treated under the law differently. Microsoft is
\nalso trying to establish a contractual agreement that
\ncreates further protection.<\/p>\n

Trademark only applies if the use confuses users into thinking the product is a
\nMicrosoft product. That’s not too hard to
\nwork-around as long as you aren’t mimicking office functionality directly.
\nTrademarks apply to marks on goods or services used in
\ncommerce. It happens automatically upon use, but may be bolstered by labelling
\n(TM) and registration, which allows (R). It can also
\nbe applied to trade “dress,” which is a unique presentation, packaging, or
\nappearance of a product.<\/p>\n

Copyright applies to any expression of an idea, and particularly unique
\nexpressions are definitely protected. It does not however,
\napply to utility. That is, the function of the interface is not copyrightable,
\nonly its expression, which I would interpret as its
\nunique visual characteristics. Copyright applies to all expressive (creative)
\nworks, automatically; it does not require prior
\napproval by any agency.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>\n

Note that in the Apple v Microsoft case regarding the GUI, it was the unique
\nvisual presentation of particular elements that best
\nsurvived. In particular, the Macintosh “trashcan” could not be used by MS. I
\nalways that that was funny because Windows’ recycle bin
\nis so much more PC and hip than the pollution inspired trashcan. I don’t,
\nhowever, know if the decision was one of trade “dress” or
\ncopyright that won that distinction.<\/p>\n

Patents apply to inventions that provide unique utility. There could be elements
\nof the toolbar that are patentable or already
\npatented. This requires a judgment by the patent office, although such judgments
\ncan be challenged in court. Any issued patents are
\npublic, and recent patent applications are mostly available online too. So, you
\nmight look to see if there are any patents filed.<\/p>\n

Contractual protection merely requires the contracting parties to agree to the
\nlimits. Microsoft is using its power and position in
\nthe community to get developers to agree to IP protections beyond Trademark,
\nCopyright, and Patents. Any firm that agrees to the
\nlicense is bound by it, independent of whether or not trademark, copyright, or
\npatent law applies. Microsoft can easily require
\nthese further limitations by restricting license of other IP unless the stricter
\nlicense is adopted. In other words, they explicitly
\nlicense IP that is clearly protected under existing law, and you can only
\nlegally use it if you agree to limitations that are much
\nmore restrictive.<\/p>\n

Basically, there are a lot of ways they can come after you if they want to. I’d
\navoid trying to make money off of duplicating it.
\nLet others with deeper pockets test that ground.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Read also: Licensing Microsoft’s Ribbon UI<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An educating post from Joe Andrieu on Microsoft‘s Ribbon UI: There are a few ways that courts currently recognize Intellectual Property protection. I’m not a lawyer, but I have taken a few classes and dealt with it as a technology entrepreneur. So, take this with a grain of salt, especially as I am likely to… <\/p>\n

Read the full article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-215","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-off-topic","category-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alax.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alax.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alax.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alax.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alax.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=215"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alax.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alax.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alax.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alax.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}