Intellectual property or “IP” refers to intangible creations of the mind or human intellect. It is any product, work or invention that is the result of creativity. Four major types of intellectual property are:
A patent is a legal document that grants an exclusive right for an invention that is new, useful and non-obvious.
A trademark identifies and distinguishes the source of the goods or services of one party from those of another.
A copyright protects an original artistic or literary work by granting certain exclusive rights to the owner or claimant.
Intellectual Property is one of the most valuable assets a business can have. See how our firm has helped our clients succeed.
A patent protects an invention that is “any new or useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new or useful improvement thereof.” 35 U.S.C. § 101. Patents give their owners the right to exclude others from making, using, and or importing the patented invention in the United States.
A trademark (or service mark for services) is any word, name, symbol, or device or any combination thereof that recognizes a brand and functions as a source indicator for goods (or services in the case for service marks). 15 U.S.C. § 1127.
A copyright gives its owner exclusive rights to make copies of a creative work. 17 U.S.C. § 101. A copyright is any work fixed to a tangible medium. Items that may be entitled to copyright protection may include photographs, software code, paintings, and certain designs.
A trade secret is any information including formulas, patterns, compilations, programs, devices, methods, techniques, or processes of independent economic value that is not generally known or readily ascertainable to others in the relevant industry and is subject to reasonable efforts to maintain secrecy.
Do not risk losing your intellectual property rights. When it comes to protecting your copyright, invention, trademark, or trade secret let Plus IP Firm®, a trusted source in IP protection, protect your intellectual property.
Our collective scholastic and professional background in software and mechanical engineering sets us apart from other attorneys who practice in the IP spaces. We fully understand how to transform inventions and ideas so that you may create profits.
Having worked in various area of technology, as well as the U.S. Patent Office, we have a first-hand understanding of the process and can make better recommendations based on our insight on what may approved and what will not. Our clients have consistently given us exemplary reviews of our superior service, guidance, and talent.
Whether you are an individual inventor, a small business, medium or large business, we understand the bottlenecks and issues that could arise and ensure you are prepared ahead of time so you can secure your rights and may move your products to the market faster.
We provide our pragmatic guidance and advice so you can make confident decisions as quickly and efficiently as possible when you are securing or protecting your intellectual property. While not every patent, copyright, or trademark is bound to perform the same as another, we have had clients become phenomenally successful with the intellectual property we helped them secure.
Patenting an idea can be intimidating to most people. There are many moving parts in the process of bringing your idea to the market. Access to manufacturing, packing, and marketing resources are just a few of the many challenges you may be facing when you are getting started.
However, patenting your idea with the right intellectual property protections is important and helpful in the process of pitching your invention to companies with the resources you need to market and manufacture it. Additionally, patenting will legally protect your branding and ideas from potential theft.
At Plus IP, our mission is to help you turn your ideas into reality. Our team is experienced not only in Intellectual Property law, but in different areas of engineering, as well. Most importantly, we have been creating and patenting our own inventions and have been partnering with companies to market and distribute them.
Thanks to our unique background and expertise, we can legally protect your products and idea while also offer you professional advice on other relevant topics, such as idea development, product pitching and market sales strategies.
Before bringing a new product or process to market, it is crucial to clearly understand the potential risks of producing, using and/or selling a new product or process. One of the risks is the potential infringement on the patent rights of another. Failure to investigate prior to investing into developing and marketing a product or process can result in wasting significant amount of resources and funds.
This can be avoided with a freedom-to-operate opinion or analysis, which evaluates whether a product or process infringes the patent of another. Carrying out this analysis helps assessing the risk of infringing on a patent of another before entering the market with a new product or process. The goal of a freedom-to-operate opinion is to provide valuable information to businesses about issues, such as potential infringement of a patent of another, patents that could affect their ability to profitably sell the invention, potential requirement to license another’s technology, and future risks of creating the new product or process.
A freedom-to-operate opinion or analysis identifies any patents or patent publications that may expose a business to patent infringement liability if a new product or process is brought to market. Completing a freedom-to-operate analysis before or during the beginning stages of product or process development allows a business to effectively determine a level of risk, to avoid infringement by designing around existing patents or patent applications, or to seek out strategic business partners through licensing or assignment agreements.
A freedom-to-operate opinion begins with an assessment of a product or process that a business wants to bring to the market. The patent attorney’s responsibility is to analyze a product or process to determine the components of the product or process. Once the components of the product or process are identified and understood, a search will be conducted to identify patents and patent applications that are related to the product or process. An experienced patent attorney will then analyze the identified potential related patents and patent applications to determine which patents and patent applications can be a risk. For example, a freedom-to-operate opinion or analysis may include an evaluation of: patents that are in the public domain and are a safe harbor for the product or process; potential invalid claims of a patent or patent application; and, potential infringement of a patent or patent applications’ claims by the new product or process.
It is crucial to note, however, that conducting a freedom-to-operate opinion or analysis cannot provide guarantee that a business will not be sued. The reason for this is because patent applications by others may be on file but still unpublished at the time of the search and therefore will not be part of the analysis. In addition, in some cases the filing of a lawsuit by another party is simply uncontrollable. However, working with an experienced patent attorney to complete a freedom-to-operate analysis does significantly lessen the unfamiliar risks to a business.
Due to the geographical proximity of South Florida to Latin American countries, many Latin American businesses are expanding into South Florida bringing new products and processes to the Unites States market. For this reason, Latin American companies have reached out to the attorneys at Plus IP to create freedom-to-operate opinions and evaluations. The attorneys at Plus IP are available to discuss your needs in regard to freedom-to-operate opinions and to reduce potential future risks to your business.
