1ECE 495 – Integrated System Design I

ECE 495 - INTEGRATED SYSTEMS I

Intellectual Property

Timothy Burg

ECE 495 – Integrated System Design I

Career Note – Academic vs. Industrial Career

• Statistics indicate that the average person spends more time in a year planning their vacation than planning their career.1

• Remember: Not making a choice is a choice

• One choice is pursuing an Academic Career versus an Industrial or Government Career

1. May be a mythical statistic

ECE 495 – Integrated System Design I

Career Note – Academic vs. Industrial Career

• You can direct your educational activities in either direction• Preparing for Academic Career

– Write papers– Research a deep topic you can take with you– Make contacts at conferences (network)

• Preparing for Industrial Career– Seek management activities, clubs, mentoring, etc.– Take business classes– Learn specific techniques or software– Research a deep topic but investigate what others are

studying (be globally aware)– Make contacts at conferences (network)

ECE 495 – Integrated System Design I

Graduate School Application Schedule

December: Complete and submit all applications.– Transcript– GRE Scores for General (and Subject) Test– Identify recommenders and supply them with your

resume and personal statement

ECE 495 – Integrated System Design I

Graduate School Reccomendation

ECE 495 – Integrated System Design I

Career Note – Academic vs. Industrial Career

Assistant Professor

Associate Professor

Professor

Department Head

Dean

Provost

Tech

nic

al A

ctiv

ity

Ad

min

istr

ativ

e A

ctiv

ity Individual

Contributor

Project Manager

Product Manager

HR Manager

Group Leader

Research Manager

Some career choices willmake it harder to change.

When Do I Need to Decide? NowCan I Change My Mind? Maybe

Research or Production

MS, PhD

MS, PhD, MBA

BS, MS, PhD IndustryUniversity

ECE 495 – Integrated System Design I

Career Path

• Bottom Line – you must plan your career.

ECE 495 – Integrated System Design I

Example: Hip Implant

In 1979, Dr. Park from Bioengineering at Clemson had the idea that a polymer coating on a hip-implant could improve the adhesion of the stem to the bone.

How did he protect his idea so that he could turn the idea into a product?

Clemson received about $34 million in licensing fees from this patent (about half went to the inventor).

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Generic Design Process

IdentifyNeed Research

Specifications

Concepts

Design

Prototype

Testing

Retire

Maintain

Use by Customer(s)

Distribute and Sell

Manufacture

Part of you job is to protect Intellectual Property (IP) during all phases of a product life:• Concept• Design of components• Manufacturing

process

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US Law

Constitution of the United States - Article I, Section 8

“Congress shall have power . . . to promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries.”

Why would Congress grant exclusive rights to an idea?

You are rewarded (via legal protection) for disclosing your new idea to the public because disclosure is good for the public because it will lead to more new ideas.

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Types of Intellectual Property

• Patent– Almost anything having a useful function:

machines, compositions of matter, processes, methods, look of a product, new lines of plants

• Trademark or Service mark– word, name, symbol to indicate the source of

goods or services• Copyright

– protection of “original works of authorship” including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic

• Trade Secret (supported under contract law)

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US Patents

• Issued by the USPTO (US Patent and Trademark Office)– USPTO has over 6,500 employees– Half are examiners and others with technical and

legal training. • Patent applications are received at the rate of over

350,000 per year• 8.5 million patents issued since 1790• “First to realize” idea versus “first to file”

application. – US system changed to “first to file” in March 2013

Possible Career Path !

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Three Types of Patents

• Utility patents– granted to anyone who invents or discovers any

new and useful process or composition of matter• Design patents

– granted to anyone who invents a new, original, and ornamental design for an article of manufacture

• Plant patents– granted to anyone who invents or discovers and

reproduces any distinct and new variety of plant

Provisional Patent - establish a date of invention prior to filling the above three.

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What Can Be Patented?

• Subject matter must be “useful” – A machine which does not operate to perform the

intended purpose would not be called useful and therefore would not be granted a patent.

• Cannot patent laws of nature or physical phenomena • A patent cannot be obtained upon an abstract idea or

suggestion.– Must show reduction to practice, e.g. a working

model– Patentable once someone of skill can understand

how to make and use the invention

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What Can Be Patented?

• Must be Novel– Must not be known or used by others – Must not be in public use or on sale more than one

year prior to the application for patent.• Must be Non-Obvious

– Non-obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the area of technology related to the invention

– Substitution of one color for another, or changes in size, are ordinarily not patentable.

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Example: What Can be Patented?

• Is Swinging side-to-side on a swing patentable? Why or why not? Utility Patent

All claims of the patent were subsequently canceled by the PTO upon reexamination

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An antenna that sends signals faster than the speed of light

Example: What Can be Patented?

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What is the Patent Process?

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How Long Does it Last?

• Twenty years from the filing date– provided maintenance fees are paid when the

patent is 3 1/2, 7 1/2; and 11 1/2; years old.

Edison’s light bulb patent has expired

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How Much Does a Patent Cost?

• Cost of "getting a patent" could run anywhere from $8,000 to $20,000 depending upon the attorney you choose.

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Do Patents Make Money?

• About 95% of all patent applications filed eventually issue as Patents,

• Less than about 5% of these actually generate income or provide a significant advantage for their owners

Patent = $?

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Additional Notes on Patents

• A Patent will not cause the invention to succeed or fail.

• The Patent will only provide you with ownership rights to the underlying inventive concept.

• It may be useful in preventing others from copying your invention or it may be useful when the time comes to sell your invention

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Example: Antenna Patent

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Trademark

• A trademark is a word, name, symbol, or device that is used in trade with goods to distinguish them from the goods of others. – “Coke” and “Excedrin”– Hourglass-shaped Coca-Cola bottle. – Slogan such as Nike’s “Just Do It”– ™ used to indicate an unregistered trademark– ® registered trademark

• Renewable in 10 year increments

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Trademark

• Trademark may be used to prevent others from using a confusingly similar mark, but not to prevent others from making the same goods– 42 classes of trademarks– "Brand X" musical instruments would not prevent someone

else from registering "Brand X" pharmaceuticals.

• Example– Can I change the McDonalds Logo? no

– Can I sell hamburgers? yes

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Trademarks

• Must be protected and used properly or it can be lost (genericide)– Aspirin– Escalator– Linoleum– Zipper– Yo-yo– Xerox may be on the edge

Aspirin was the name of a specific company’s product. Now anyone can make and sell aspirin

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Examples of Trademarks

• "Let's Get Ready to Rumble!" – Trademarked by Michael Buffer in 1992– Involved in over 100 legal actions to protect– Estimated $400 million in revenue– Trademark used for other things like videogames,

movies, and clothing.• Clemson University

– 550 manufacturers are licensed today for commercial use of the marks

®

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Service mark

• A service mark is the same as a trademark except that it identifies and distinguishes the source of a service rather than a product.– "McDonald’s" is a service mark for restaurant

services– SM represents an unregistered service mark– ® registered service mark

• Example: Lexus– "Lexus" is both a trademark for automobiles and a

service mark for automobile repair services.

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Copyright

• A copyright is a set of exclusive rights granted by government for a limited time to regulate the use of a particular form, way or manner in which an idea or information is expressed.

• Artistic forms or "works may include literary works, movies, musical works, sound recordings, paintings, photographs, software, and industrial designs.

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Copyright

• Duration– Done “Not-for-hire” -> life of author + 75 years– Done “For-hire” -> 95 years from first publication

or 120 years from creation• The “Mickey Mouse Protection Act" in 1998

extended Copyrights by 20 years.

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Copyright

• Registration is automatic when work is created• Formal Registration

– Establishes a public record of the copyright claim.– Required before an infringement suit may be filed

in court• Computer Architectures and Programs are

copyrighted– EULA - A software licensee never takes ownership of the copyright in

the software; he merely purchases a license to use the protected software under the terms and conditions set by the copyright owner and the law.

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Trade Secret

• Confidential practice, method, process, design, or other information used by a company to compete.

• Not disclosed -> it is not directly protected by law as a copyright or patent.

• Indirectly protected through Nondisclosure Agreements and Employment contracts– You will be liable for any losses if you divulge

secrets. Receiving company will also be liable.• Can be reverse engineered.

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International

• A patent must be pursued in each country where protection is desire.

• Copyright– Two international copyright conventions, the Berne

Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works (Berne Convention) and the Universal Copyright Convention (UCC), may offer protection in member countries.

– Some countries offer almost no protection.• Madrid Agreement and the Protocol enable trademark owners

from member states to forego filing separate trademark applications in each country in favor of filing a single application that can then be extended to each member state.

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Summary

• It is your job as an engineer to protect your company’s intellectual property through:– Patents– Trademarks or Service marks– Copyrights – Trade Secrets