Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works (Berne Convention) - An international agreement governing copyright, which was first accepted in Berne, Switzerland in 1886. The Berne Convention (full text here - original and as amended thru the years) was developed at the instigation of Victor Hugo of the Association Littéraire et Artistique Internationale. Thus it was influenced by the French "right of the author" (droit d'auteur), which contrasts with the Anglo-Saxon concept of "copyright" which only dealt with economic concerns. Under the Convention, copyrights for creative works are automatically in force upon their creation without being asserted or declared.
Copyright Clearance Center (CCC) / Copyright.com - CCC provides licensing systems for the reproduction and distribution of copyrighted materials in print and electronic formats throughout the world. CCC manages the rights to over 1.75 million works and represents more than 9,600 publishers and hundreds of thousands of authors and other creators. The company's streamlined, convenient compliance solutions enable more than 10,000 corporations and subsidiaries, including most of the Fortune 100, and thousands of government agencies, law firms, document suppliers, libraries, academic institutions, copy shops and bookstores to respect the rights of copyright holders and lawfully reuse the copyright-protected information they need to drive their business.
Copyright Crash Course - Learn about ownership of copyrighted materials, fair use, and how to get permission to use someone else's work.
Copyright Renewal Database (Stanford) - This database makes searchable the copyright renewal records received by the U.S. Copyright Office between 1950 and 1993 for books published in the US between 1923 and 1963. Note that the database includes only US Class A (book) renewals. The period from 1923-1963 is of special interest for US copyrights, as works published after January 1, 1964 had their copyrights automatically renewed by the 1976 Copyright Act, and works published before 1923 have generally fallen into the public domain. Between those dates, a renewal registration was required to prevent the expiration of copyright, however determining whether a work's registration has been renewed is a challenge. Renewals received by the Copyright Office after 1977 are searchable in an online database, but renewals received between 1950 and 1977 were announced and distributed only in a semi-annual print publication. The Copyright Office does not have a machine-searchable source for this renewal information, and the only public access is through the card catalog in their DC offices.
Copyright Royalty Board - The Copyright Royalty Board of the Library of Congress administers various statutory copyright licenses.
Copyright Timeline: A History of Copyright in the U.S. - Since the Statute of Anne almost three hundred years ago, U.S. law has been revised to broaden the scope of copyright, to change the term of copyright protection, and to address new technologies. For several years, the U.S. has considered and acted on copyright reform. Information provided by the Association of Research Libraries.
Copyright Website - Copyright information of interest to infonauts, netsurfers, webspinners, content providers, musicians, appropriationists, activists, infringers, outlaws, and law abiding citizens.
Copyscape - Search for copies of your page on the web.
Creative Commons - Creative Commons has developed a Web application that helps people dedicate their creative works (websites, scholarship, music, film, photography, literature, courseware) to the public domain -- or retain their copyright while licensing them as free for certain uses, on certain conditions.
DefectiveByDesign - A broad-based anti-Digital Rights Management campaign that is targeting big media, unhelpful manufacturers and DRM distributors. The campaign aims to make all manufacturers wary about bringing their DRM-enabled products to market. DRM products have features built-in that restrict what jobs they can do. These products have been intentionally crippled from the users' perspective, and are therefore "defective by design". This campaign will identify these “defective” products, and target them for elimination.
Digital Millenium Copyright Act of 1998 [.pdf] - A complex piece of legislation which makes major changes in U.S. copyright law to address the digitally networked environment. The President is expected to sign the DMCA shortly. This memorandum discusses the law's five titles which: (1) implement the WIPO Internet Treaties; (2) establish safe harbors for online service providers; (3) permit temporary copies of programs during the performance of computer maintenance; (4) make miscellaneous amendments to the Copyright Act, including amendments which facilitate Internet broadcasting; and (5) create sui generis protection for boat hull designs.
Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) Study - On October 28, 1998, H.R. 2281, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), was enacted into law. Section 104 of the DMCA directs the Register of Copyrights and the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information to prepare a report for the Congress examining the effects of the amendments made by title 1 of the DMCA and the development of electronic commerce on the operation of sections 109 and 117 of title 17, United States Code, and the relationship between existing and emerging technology and the operation of such sections.
Eldred v. Ashcroft - The official site for the folks fighting the Sonny Bono Act in the Supreme Court. Mostly for legal types, but the links section has a lot of good stuff.
Finding Copyrights and Trademarks for Free - A surprising number of free databases containing information related to copyrights exists. Many serve highly specific needs. For example, performing rights organizations, or groups that license the works of songwriters and music publishers, often make available databases of the copyrighted songs they license.
Free as in speech and beer - Online book from Darren Wershler-Henry on open source, peer-to-peer, and the economics of the online revolution. "Increasingly, people are coming to the conclusion that the death of intellectual property as we know it is a good and laudable turn of events, that software and other types of intellectual property should be free - free as in "speech," free as in "beer," and sometimes free as in speech and beer."
Google Book Search Copyright Settlement - The purpose of this website is to inform you of a proposed Settlement of a class action lawsuit brought by authors and publishers, claiming that Google had violated their copyrights and those of other Rightsholders ofBooksandInserts, by scanning their books, creating an electronic database and displaying short excerpts without the permission of the copyright holders. Google denied the claims. The lawsuit is entitled The Authors Guild, Inc., et al. v. Google Inc., Case No. 05 CV 8136 (S.D.N.Y.).
Also see Future of Google Book Search.
History of Copyright - Homepage of book "The History of Copyright: A Critical Overview With Source Texts in Five Languages" by Karl-Erik Tallmo.
Illegal Art: Freedom of Expression in the Corporate Age - Celebrates what is rapidly becoming the "degenerate art" of a corporate age: art and ideas on the legal fringes of intellectual property. Some of the pieces in the show have eluded lawyers; others have had to appear in court.
In Re Literary Works in Electronic Databases Litigation - This is the homepage for the in re literary works in electronic databases copyright litigation, a case brought on behalf of freelance authors of literary works that were reproduced on electronic databases without the author's permission.
Kahle v. Gonzales Case Page - In this case, two archives ask the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California to hold that statutes that extended copyright terms unconditionally - the Copyright Renewal Act and the Copyright Term Extension Act (CTEA) - are unconstitutional under the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment, and that the Copyright Renewal Act and CTEA together create an "effectively perpetual" term with respect to works first published after January 1, 1964 and before January 1, 1978, in violation of the Constitution's Limited Times and Promote...Progress Clauses (Aricle I, Section 8). The complaint asks the court for a declaratory judgment that copyright restrictions on orphaned works - works whose copyright has not expired but which are no longer available - violate the constitution.
Lawrence Lessig - The acclaimed Stanford Law School professor and intellectual property expert.
Libraries and Archives Copyright Alliance (LACA) - LACA has a major role in monitoring and lobbying the Government and the EU on all aspects to do with copyright on behalf of UK libraries, archives and information services and their users.
Linked Content Coalition -
The European Publishers Council (ECP) is working with partners in a project to facilitate the creation of the necessary infrastructure to enable the more effective management of copyright online.
The project about the communication and management of digital rights data; i.e. the creation of a standard data infrastructure for increasingly automated rights communication.
The objective of this project is to clear the ground to lay the foundations for a more coherent organisation of metadata and rights information through the adoption of cross-media rights communication standards. EPC has tentatively called this alliance of interests the Linked Content Coalition.
Music Publishers Association (MPA) - Information about music publishing, copyright laws, editorial standards, and the correct use of printed music.
Opposing Copyright Extension - A forum on Congress's extension of the term of copyright protection and for promoting the public domain. Public Knowledge is a public-interest advocacy organization dedicated to fortifying and defending a vibrant information commons. The Washington, D.C. based group works with wide spectrum of stakeholders - libraries, educators, scientists, artists, musicians, journalists, consumers, software programmers, civic groups and enlightened businesses - to promote the conviction that openness, access, and the capacity to create and compete must be given new embodiment in the digital age.
Public Domain -In just about every country, authors can put a work in the public domain by formally declaring they are doing so. But most books enter the public domain either because they are not copyrightable (e.g., certain government documents), or because their copyrights expire.
Also see Wikipedia article on Public Domain.
Public Domain Review -
Gateway to the public domain, surfacing unusual and obscure works, and offering fresh reflections and unfamiliar angles on material which is more well known.
Also see:
Public Index - A site to study and discuss the proposed Google Book Search settlement. Annotate the settlement, section-by-section or browse its collection of related legal documents.
Public Knowledge - A public-interest advocacy organization dedicated to fortifying and defending a vibrant "information commons." This Washington, D.C. based group speaks in a single voice for a wide spectrum of stakeholders - libraries, educators, scientists, artists, musicians, journalists, consumers, software programmers, civic groups and enlightened businesses.
Publishing Law Center - Quality information for the publishing community - publishers, authors, editors, web masters, and freelancers. Copyright, trademarks, intellectual property, contracts, licensing, rights, PubLaw Update Newsletter, and more.
QuestionCopyright.com (QCo) - Founded to spread awareness of how today's copyright system hurts artists and audiences alike, and shackles the Internet to a distribution model designed around the limitations of the printing press. Better systems are possible, but they can only receive fair consideration if we first understand where copyright comes from and what it actually does.
Silent Theft: The Private Plunder of Our Common Wealth - Silent Theft is a critique of how private markets are eclipsing and "enclosing" the American commons. Bollier – a journalist, activist and public policy expert – documents the costs and consequences of runaway market activity and develops a new language for understanding and reclaiming the commons.
UK Patent Office - Responsible for intellectual property (copyright, designs, patents and trademarks) in the UK.
U.S. Copyright Office - Informational circulars; application forms for copyright registration; links to the home pages of other copyright-related organizations; news of what the Office is doing, Congressional testimony and press releases; latest regulations; copyright records cataloged since 1978.
Washington D.C. Principles for Free Access to Science - On March 16, 2004 representatives from the nation's leading not-for-profit medical/scientific societies and publishers announced their commitment to providing free access and wide dissemination of published research findings. The Washington D.C. Principles for Free Access to Science outlines the commitment of not-for-profit publishers to work in partnership with scholarly communities such as libraries to "ensure that these communities are sustained, science is advanced, research meets the highest standards and patient care is enhanced with accurate and timely information.
WorldWideOCR Online Creator's Registry - Apply a SEAL™ file date-stamp to protect copyrights on your scripts, songs, ideas, documents, music. WorldWide OCR is helping writers, artists, photographers and inventors affordably protect and archive their copyrights and intellectual property online.
Writers, Artists, and Their Copyright Holders (WATCH) - A database containing primarily, but not exclusively, the names and addresses of copyright holders or contact persons for authors and artists whose archives are housed, in whole or in part, in libraries and archives in North America and the United Kingdom. The objective in making the database available is to provide to scholars information about whom to contact for permission to publish text and images that still enjoy copyright protection.
Writers' Copyright Association-UK - The leading UK association for copyright protection. If you've written a screenplay, book, play, game show, treatment, logo, artwork, or other intellectual work.
AHRB Research Centre for Studies in Intellectual Property and Technology Law - The Centre is undertaking a five-year study of personality rights. This is a comparative analysis of the measures instituted in a variety of jurisdictions to protect different aspects of the human personality, such as image, identity, personal privacy, dignity and related economic interests. As part of this project, co-directors have devised a series of case studies, the purpose being to discover not only if there is a commonality in the ethic underlying the protection of personality, but also to ascertain at what level the public interest might operate to restrict or define the scope of the rights.
BitLaw - A comprehensive Internet resource on technology law containing 1,800 pages on patent, copyright, trademark, and Internet legal issues:
Copyright Law - Copyright protection, registration, fair use, and database protection.
Forms and Contracts - P.T.O. forms, Copyright Office forms, and example contracts.
Internet Law - Domain names, linking, framing, and web sites.
Legal Links - Large collection of annotated legal links.
Patent Law - Patent applications, infringement, and design patents.
Primary Sources - Statutes, regulations, treaties, and Patent Office documents.
Software Patents - Why software is now patentable, usefulness of software patents, and software patent resources.
Trademark Law - Trademark infringment, searching, and applications.
Chilling Effects Clearinghouse - A joint project of the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Harvard, Stanford, Berkeley, and University of San Francisco law school clinics. these pages will help you understand the protections intellectual property laws and the First Amendment give to your online activities.
CMG Worldwide - Represents the families and estates of deceased celebrities. Today, CMG Worldwide represents over 400 diverse personalities and corporate clients in the sports, entertainment, and music fields. representing the families and estates of deceased celebrities. Entertainment clients include the families of legends such as Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Bette Davis, Sophia Loren, Rock Hudson, Bettie Page and Lana Turner. In addition, CMG represents many internationally acclaimed musicians including Duke Ellington, Chuck Berry, Billie Holiday, Hank Williams, Sr., Don McLean, and Buddy Holly, and prestigious corporate accounts like I Love New York. Historical clients include the late civil rights leader Malcolm X, Amelia Earhart, Lee Strasberg, Mark Twain, and legendary architect Frank Lloyd Wright.
Commission on Intellectual Property Rights - The Commission was set up by the British government to look at how intellectual property rights might work better for poor people and developing countries. The first Commission meeting was in London on the 8th-9th May 2001, and the final report was published on 12th September 2002.
Cybercrime - The Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section (CCIPS) of the Criminal Division of the U.S. Department of Justice.
DialogIP - Intellectual property records search service. Review worldwide patent, trademark, and copyright developments. View online patent images, as well as news on litigation, settlements, and intellectual property regulations. Sources include Derwent World Patents Index, specialty patent files, such as INPADOC, European Patents Fulltext, and the extensive TRADEMARKSCAN collection from Thomson & Thomson.
FeeBid.com - Fee quote and RFP engine exclusively designed for intellectual property legal services. FeeBid allows clients to place confidential RFPs to 100's of IP attorneys thoughout the U.S.
Findlaw IP Index - Intellectual property resources, journals, law and government documents, agencies, mailing lists, news.
Foundation for Information Policy Research (FIPR) - An independent body studying the interaction between information technology and society. Its goal is to identify technical developments with significant social impact, commission and undertake research into public policy alternatives, and promote public understanding and dialogue between technologists and policy-makers in the UK and Europe. E.g., see the UK implementation of the EU Copyright Directive page.
Hieros Gamos Intellectual Property Law Guide - Focus is on regulation of intangible rights regarding ideas and tangible rights to use particular trademarks, patents and copyrights to produce goods and services.
IMPACT - Blog on intellectual property and IT law maintained by UK law firm Freeth Cartwright LLP.
Intellectual Property in Secured Transactions - The law applicable to security interests in intellectual property is far from settled - whether in the United States or elsewhere. This paper by Baila H. Caledonia of Cowan, Liebowitz & Latman sets out what a practitioner should look for to avoid the myriad of pitfalls which can create a trap for the unwary.
Intellectual Property Law Server - Provides information about intellectual property law including patent, trademark and copyright. Resources include comprehensive links, general information, space for professionals to publish articles and forums for discussing related issues.
Intellectual Property on the Internet: A Survey of Issues - A report from WIPO that addresses the far-reaching impact that digital technologies - the Internet in particular - have had on intellectual property (IP) and the international IP system.
Intellectual Property Rights Helpdesk -
The Helpline service of the European IPR Helpdesk provides professional advice to your specific IP or IPR query – customized, straight-forwardly, comprehensibly and free of charge.
Intellectual Property Society - Working to increase public awareness of, and participation in, the evolution of intellectual property rights and emerging technologies.
Intellectual Property Theft - U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics presents statistics on both criminal and civil enforcement of Federal intellectual property laws for 1994-2002. Criminal intellectual property theft offenses include copyright and trademark infringement and theft of trade secrets. Civil intellectual property suits include copyright, trademark, and patent infringement.
Intellectual Property Today - Focused on issues in intellectual property (patent, trademark and copyright) law.
IP Justice - An international civil liberties organization that promotes balanced intellectual property law.
IP Insider - Intellectual property news and issues.
IP Links - Intellectual property sites compiled by Dr. Karl Rackette.
JurisNotes.com - Provides summaries of the newest intellectual property law cases from state and federal courts, delivered to your email twice a week.
Patent, Trademark and Copyright Journal - BNA journal providing news of the most important intellectual property cases, statutes, trends, and other key developments in all areas of the law.
Patent and Trademark Depository Library Association (PTDLA) - The objectives of the PTDLA are to discover the interests, needs, opinions, and goals of the Patent and Trademark Depository Libraries (PTDLs), and to advise the United States Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) in these matters for the benefit of PTDLs and their users, and to assist the PTO in planning and implementing appropriate services.
Public Knowledge - A public-interest advocacy organization dedicated to fortifying and defending a vibrant "information commons" - the shared information resources and cultural assets that we own as a people.
Publishing Law Center - Quality information for the publishing community - publishers, authors, editors, web masters, and freelancers. Copyright, trademarks, intellectual property, contracts, licensing, rights, PubLaw Update Newsletter, and more.
Researching Intellectual Property Law In the Russian Federation -
This research guide is intended to assist its users with research of Russian intellectual property law by a) describing the primary sources of intellectual property law in the Russian Federation; and b) listing a number of secondary sources that interpret and comment on intellectual property law in the Russian Federation.
Science-Reg.com - One of the largest problems in the scientific world is providing the existence of data at a particular time and date. Not only that, every year thousands of documents and data connected to scientific work is stolen, copied or fraudulently changed before it is legally registered. Registering data at Science-Reg can be done in a few mouse clicks in less then a minute.
Source Law Index - Source materials for the practice of intellectual property law. Provided by BitLaw.
Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) - Information on intellectual property in the WTO, news and official records of the activities of the TRIPS Council, and details of the WTO's work with other international organizations in the field.
World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) -
A specialized agency of the United Nations dedicated to developing a balanced and accessible international intellectual property system, which rewards creativity, stimulates innovation and contributes to economic development while safeguarding the public interest.
See WIPO - An Overview or WIPO Help Desk.
Licensing
American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) - A membership association of over 80,000 composers, songwriters, lyricists and music publishers. ASCAP protects the rights of its members by licensing and paying royalties for the public performance of their copyrighted works.
artessimo.com - Are you looking for a new way to sell your work on the international book market? artessimo.com provides publishers with a professional contact forum and provides a comprehensive database of international literary rights.
Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI) - A music performing rights organization that represents songwriters. BMI collects money from people who use music in the course of their business, then pays that money to the writers and publishers of the songs.
Motion Picture Licensing Corporation - Independent copyright licensing service exclusively authorized by major Hollywood motion picture studios and independent producers to grant umbrella licenses to non-profit groups, businesses and government organizations for the public performances of home videocassettes and videodiscs.
Royalty-free.tv - Provides means for new writers to distribute their music, as royalty free music. Royalty-free.tv acts in effect as an agency for writers, and it costs the composers on this site nothing at all to use this facility.
SoundExchange - An organization comprised of large, medium and small recording companies, united in receiving a fair price for the licensing of their music in the digital world. Licenses, collects and distributes public performance revenue for sound recording copyright holders within such digital channels as cable, satellite and webcast transmissions.
American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA) - Represents a wide and diverse spectrum of individuals, companies and institutions involved directly or indirectly in the practice of patent, trademark, copyright and unfair competition law, as well as other fields of law affecting intellectual property. Members represent both owners and users of intellectual property.
Artists Rights Society (ARS) - Appointed in 1986 by the French copyright societies for visual artists to represent the intellectual property interests of their members within the U.S..
Intellectual Property Owners Association (IPO) -
Established in 1972, IPO a trade association for owners of patents, trademarks, copyrights and trade secrets. IPO is the only association in the U.S. that serves all intellectual property owners in all industries and all fields of technology.
International Trademark Association (INTA) - Represents trademark owners to protect and advance the importance of trademarks as elements of international commerce. Educates business, the media and the public on the use of trademarks
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) - Nonprofit corporation formed to assume responsibility for the IP address space allocation, protocol parameter assignment, domain name system management, and root server system management functions previously performed under U.S. Government contract by IANA and other entities.
Licensing Executives Society - An association of 32 national and regional societies, each composed of men and women who have an interest in the transfer of technology, or licensing of intellectual property rights - from technical know how and patented inventions to software, copyright and trademarks.
National Intellectual Property Researchers Association (NIPRA) - Dedicated to the betterment of the United States Patent and Trademark system, and in particular, to improving the ability of Members to provide services essential to the greater Intellectual Property Community.
National Music Publishers Association (NMPA) - Representing more than 600 American music publishers, NMPA interprets copyright law, educates the public about licensing, and safeguards the interests of its members.
UK Patent Office - Responsible for intellectual property (copyright, designs, patents and trademarks) in the UK.
U.S. Copyright Office - Informational circulars; application forms for copyright registration; links to the home pages of other copyright-related organizations; news of what the Office is doing, Congressional testimony and press releases; latest regulations; copyright records cataloged since 1978.
U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) - Through the issuance of patents the USPTO provides incentives to invent, invest in, and disclose new technology worldwide.
WIPO Cooperation for Development Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean - WIPO's cooperation with countries of the Latin America and Caribbean region aims at developing and strengthening the intellectual property system in those countries, in order that it may play an increasingly important role in policy making and setting-up of the economic, social and technological development programs in each country.
World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) - Intergovernmental United Nations organization headquartered in Geneva. WIPO protects intellectual property throughout the world through cooperation among States and administers various multilateral treaties dealing with the legal and administrative aspects of intellectual property.
World Trade Organization (WTO): TRIPS - WTO concerns itself with the global rules of trade between nations. TRIPS (trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights), information on intellectual property in the WTO, and news and official records of the activities of the TRIPS Council. The TRIPS Agreement is Annex 1C of the Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization, signed in Marrakesh, Morocco on 15 April 1994. See Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights.
Patent
Agricultural Biotechnology Intellectual Property - This database, from the Economic Research Service, identifies and describes U.S. utility patents on inventions in biotechnology and other biological processes - with issue dates between 1976 and 2000 - that are used in food and agriculture. The database also provides information about the ownership of these patents, whether patents are held in the public or private sector, and changes in patent ownership due to firm mergers, acquisitions, and spinoffs.
European Patent Convention (EPC) - Goes beyond what the Patent Cooperation Treaty establishes. An applicant files a single European Patent Application and designates the countries in Europe in which he wants to have patent protection. The European Patent Office (EPO) performs a novelty search and prepares a search report. Using this search report, the Examining Division (three examiners) then determines the patentability of the invention. The procedure is comparable to the national procedure, except in that it has only to be performed once regardless of how many European countries were designated.
FedCirc.us - A platform for several informational products that will allow patent professionals to incorporate the latest caselaw into their daily practice.
FFII: Software Patents in Europe - For the last few years the European Patent Office (EPO) has, contrary to the letter and spirit of the existing law, granted more than 30000 patents on computer-implemented rules of organisation and calculation (programs for computers). Now Europe's patent movement is pressing to consolidate this practise by writing a new law. Europe's programmers and citizens are facing considerable risks. Here you find the basic documentation, starting from a short overview and the latest news.
FreshPatents.com - The latest published U.S. patent applications each week before the USPTO decision to grant/deny. Free patent monitoring.
Index to Manual of Classification of Patents - The Manual of Classification has over 400 classes. This site provides an index to the Classification where you can determine the class/subclass of your idea by searching keywords, then retreive all of the patent titles in that class/subclass.
IP.com - IP.com's Disclosure Database gives companies a fast, effective tool for releasing innovation into the public domain. The Disclosure Database is geared toward corporations, as well as individual inventors, that need fast, reliable, and cost-effective publishing means.
Ius Mentis: Patents - A patent is the exclusive right to make, use or sell an invention in a country. This invention can be a product or a method of making a product, although since recently also methods of doing business and computer programs can be patented. In order to get this right, the inventor must apply for a patent at his patent office. He must fully disclose how the invention works and how it can be constructed and applied. This allows (at least in theory) others to make use of the invention. In return for his disclosure, the inventor gets the exclusive rights for (typically) 20 years after applying for the patent.
Japan Patent Office - Oversees Japan's system of industrial property rights (i.e., its system for patents, new utility models, designs and trademarks).
Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property - March 20, 1883, as revised at Brussels on December 14, 1900, at Washington on June 2, 1911, at The Hague on November 6, 1925, at London on June 2, 1934, at Lisbon on October 31, 1958, and at Stockholm on July 14, 1967, and as amended on September 28, 1979: The oldest treaty related to patents is the Paris Convention (1883). While it does not regulate any aspect of the examination, it does establish the very important right of priority. Someone who has filed a patent application in any country that is a member to the Paris Convention, can within one year after that filing file patent applications in other countries, claiming the filing date of the first application as the effective filing date of the later applications. This way, he has up to one year to decide in which countries he wants to apply for patent protection and to make the necessary preparations (like translating it into the official languages of those countries) for doing so.
Patent and Trademark Depository Library Association (PTDLA) - The objectives of the PTDLA are to discover the interests, needs, opinions, and goals of the Patent and Trademark Depository Libraries (PTDLs), and to advise the United States Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) in these matters for the benefit of PTDLs and their users, and to assist the PTO in planning and implementing appropriate services.
Patent Cafe - Patent Cafe Magazine, patent and non-patent prior art resources, listings of professional service providers, software and patent practice resources, technology transfer, technology business development.
Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) - The states party to this treaty constitute a union for cooperation in the filing, searching, and examination of applications for the protection of inventions, and for rendering special technical services. The union is known as the International Patent Cooperation Union. Done at Washington on June 19, 1970, amended on October 2, 1979, and modified on February 3, 1984.
Patent Information Users Group, Inc. (PIUG) - A not-for-profit organization for individuals having a professional, scientific or technical interest in patent information. Encourages the development of patent information research and analysis systems, to further develop members' patent research and analysis skills, and to provide appropriate recognition for its members excelling in the field.
PTO Today - Magazine of the U.S. Patent and Tradmark Office.
Public Patent Foundation (PUBPAT) -
Works to strengthen the patent system by introducing a healthy amount of non-patentee input to help the system achieve high quality and balanced policies. At its core, our work is based on the fundamental concept of protecting freedom from illegitimate restraint.
Software Patent Institute (SPI) - A nonprofit corporation formed to provide courses and prior art about software technology to help improve the patent process.
Thomson Compumark - Provides trademark screening, global trademark searching and trademark watching services to IP Professionals worldwide.
U.S. Patent Database Search - Provides full image access to all U.S.-granted patents back to 1790, with full-text searching back to 1976 and the full-text of published applications. The database also enables searching for references, which can include articles, reports, and proceedings.
Global Brand Database - This tool makes it easier to search over 640,000 records relating to internationally protected trademarks, appellations of origin and armorial bearings, flags and other state emblems as well as the names, abbreviations and emblems of intergovernmental organizations. The Global Brand Database allows free of charge, simultaneous brand-related searches across multiple collections.
Noncompete Agreements - Noncompete agreements protect employers from losing valuable trade secrets and employees. Here's how to make such an agreement hold up in court.
Coalition to Advance the Protection of Sports Logos (CPS) - Advocates and supporters of enforcement of tradmark rights of its membership., including The Collegiate Licensing Company, Major League Baseball Properties, Inc., NBA Properties, Inc., NFL Properties LLC, and NHL Enterpises, L.P.
Markmonitor - Offers companies a complete suite of real-time online brand protection tools in combination with comprehensive monthly reports that highlight brand misuse occuring anywhere on the Internet.
Patent and Trademark Depository Library Association (PTDLA) - The objectives of the PTDLA are to discover the interests, needs, opinions, and goals of the Patent and Trademark Depository Libraries (PTDLs), and to advise the United States Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) in these matters for the benefit of PTDLs and their users, and to assist the PTO in planning and implementing appropriate services.
Trademark Blog - Martin Schwimmer's blog covering trademark issues.
Trademark Law: An Overview - U.S. state and federal materials, international materials, and other resources maintained by Cornell Law School.
Trademark Manual of Examining Procedure (TMEP) - This Manual is published to provide trademark examining attorneys in the Patent and Trademark Office, trademark registration applicants, and attorneys and representatives for trademark registration applicants, with a reference work on the practices and procedures relative to prosecution of applications to register marks in the Patent and Trademark Office.
Trademark Applications and Registrations Retrieval (TARR) - From this page, you may retrieve information about pending and registered trademarks obtained from the USPTO's internal database by simply entering a valid trademark serial number or registration number.
U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO): Trademark Information - Through the registration of trademarks the USPTO assists businesses in protecting their investments, promotes goods and services, and safeguards consumers against confusion and deception in the marketplace.
USPTO Design Search Code Manual - The design search code is a numerical classification index which codifies design figurative elements into categories, the most general classification, divisions, subsets of categories, and sections, subsets of divisions. The design search code is the equivalent of a filing system for paper records, such as, the system in use in the Trademark Search Room.
Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy Database (UDRP-DB) - Search tool for domain name dispute decisions resolved under the ICANN UDRP. Such decisions are posted on the Web but access to them has been inefficient. Tools provided here help complainants, respondents, their counsel, panelists, providers, and members of the public who are concerned with the rights of domain name holders and trademark owners.
USPTO Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) - A body within the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) responsible for hearing and deciding certain kinds of cases involving trademarks. These include appeals from decisions by USPTO Examiners denying registration of marks, and opposition proceedings filed against trademark applications. TTAB panels hear hundreds of claims each year asserting that trademarks should not be registered because they are generic, disparging, or confusingly similar to existing marks.
webclipping.com - With WebClipping.com, you'll know if you, your products or services are mentioned anywhere on the Internet. Provides relevant, timely and accurate information about you or your company's mention in the online press; competitors' activities; potential acquisitions or mergers; consumers' views - positive and negative - about your company and products; copyright or trademark abuse; grumblings from unhappy employees or customers; false or misleading product claims or even innovative new uses for your products.
About KWSnet
KWSnet is a human-edited subject directory of the web with special attention paid to U.S. national and international news, the arts, culture, media, politics, law, science and technology. It is based in San Francisco, California. KWSnet contains over 120,000 annotated links to resources worldwide. Use Search for, located on each page, to search within this site. Use Ctrl-F to search within individual pages. A Site Index provides a complete alphabetized listing of all pages.
KWSnet is intended for educational purposes, research, and personal use. It is regularly updated. Use the Refresh button located at the top navigation bar to make sure you are viewing its most recent update, not a cached page. If you subscribe to Google +1, Facebook or Twitter, please use the buttons located at the bottom of each page to share this resource with others. Additionally, KWSnet may be contacted via email with any comments, suggestions or link submissions at comments@kwsnet.com.
This webpage last updated on
Saturday, May 19, 2012 2:18 PM
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