April 28th, 2010 by admin
A patent is a set of rights that is granted by the national government that effectively gives the protection of the patent holder and the exclusive rights of exploitation in respect of an invention. Everything can not be patented, it is only granted for something that is an invention, and novelty.
Now you are an inventor of a product and you did the job on behalf your company so who will be the owner of the patent?
Most of the employers think that they are holding the unspecified right on their inventions of the employees that has been made on the job. And the thoughts come from the fact that they achieved the invention by using their resources that are available at the work place. Otherwise, it was not possible to invent.
There are many employers have an agreement with their employee that the intellectual property belongs to their employees is company’s property. But if there is nothing written in the agreement, then the employer cannot think about the rights that the invented products are belongs to them. It would be illegal in eye of law.
If the employer takes any decision to pursue or win the case against the employee when there is nothing mentioned in that joining agreement, the will be losing their credibility and that is not good for them. There are many cases currently with employers to claim patent rights where in the form of a written agreement there is no evidence to that effect.
In many industry inventions may be a good deal that is helpful for the business, considering several factors even if there is any present agreement. If the employee is paid hourly wages then the invention will not be justified.
Some more information:
If you think that you are depriving of you rights by your employer, when you have invented a product and your employer made the patent on their name without compensating you, you may contact with a Nigeria Patent Lawyer to get the right solution.
April 8th, 2010 by admin
An intellectual property considers all of your own invention like your thoughts, your feelings and many more activities by your brain. And the government has taken the responsibility to protect your discovery or invention by implementing intellectual property law that covers trademark, copyright, patent etc…
The intellectual property attorney will be able to understand when an intellectual property violation has occurred on case by case. Actually this is a theft or copying of another product or material and claiming that he or she is owner of the product or material and that is very illegal and also prosecutable. It may be a very complicated area of law but the efficient IP lawyer will be able understand it when the incident occur.
What would be punishment of violating Intellectual property (in terms of copyright) law?
If you have a product that is copyrighted and if that copyright is violated then the Intellectual property owner or the copyright holder may ask for an injunction against the entity that is violating the copyright. The copyright holder may also seek statutory or monetary compensation for the violation of copyright. If the violator is found guilty by the court of law then criminal penalties will leveled against the violator.
The penalties are:
- Until and unless the law of court will take any action, a temporary injunction will be prohibiting an individual to continue to infringe copyright. And the permanent injunction will prohibit an individual to violate the copyright permanently.
- A copyright holder can request for the statutory damages that will be calculated per work infringed.
- A copyright holder can request for a monetary damages that are earned by the individual or entity while a copyright is violated.
If the IP law violator is found guilty the there is an imprisonment of up to 5 years or a fine of up to $500,000 for a first offense. And for the subsequent offenses the punishment may be an imprisonment of up to 10 years or a fine of up to $1 million.
Additional Information: To avoid copyright violation in Chicago please contact with an efficient Chicago IP Lawyer.