- [Instructor] One of the most important
responsibilities of information security
professionals is protecting the intellectual property
belonging to their organizations from
unauthorized use or disclosure.
There are a series of legal mechanisms
available to protect intellectual property.
These include copyrights, trademarks, patents,
and trade secrets.
Each type of intellectual property protection covers
different types of information in different ways.
Copyrights protect creative works against theft.
Information protected by copyright includes
books, web content, magazines,
and other written works as well as art, music,
and even computer software.
Copyright protection is automatically granted
to the creator of a work upon creation.
Although copyright owners may choose to register
their copyright with government authorities,
this is not a legal requirement.
In the United States, the Library of Congress administers
the copyright program through the United States
Copyright Office.
The length of copyright protection varies widely
according to the country of registration,
the type of work, and whether the author is
an individual or a corporation.
In all cases, it is a very long time.
For example, if you as an individual create
a new work today, the copyright protection
for that work will last for 70 years
beyond your death.
Once a copyright expires, work moves into
the public domain and may be used freely by anyone
without requiring licensing or permission.
Copyrights are denoted using the circle C symbol shown here.
Trademarks are used to protect the words
and symbols used to identify products and services.
Information protected by trademark includes
brand names, logos, and slogans.
The owners of trademarks must register their marks
with the government to achieve full protection.
In the United States, this is handled
through the United States Patent and Trademark Office,
a division of the Market of Commerce.
Trademarks may last indefinitely,
but the registration must be renewed every 10 years.
Trademarks are only valid as long as they are
actively being used.
If an organization stops using a trademark in commerce,
they are said to have abandoned the trademark
after five years of non use.
Trademarks are denoted using the superscript
TM symbol shown here.
Once they are granted registration status
by the government, trademarks may be denoted using
the circle R symbol for registered trademarks.
Patents protect inventions, providing the inventor
with exclusive use of their invention for a period of time.
The purpose of patents is to stimulate invention
by ensuring inventors that others will not simply copy
their ideas in the market place.
In order to be granted a patent,
an inventor must demonstrate that his
or her idea meets three criteria.
First, the invention must be novel,
meaning that it is a new idea that nobody has
thought of in the past.
Second, the invention must be useful,
meaning that it provides some benefit to someone
and that it is actually possible to use the invention.
And finally, the invention must be nonobvious,
meaning that there is some inventive work involved.
Once granted, a patent generally lasts for 20 years
beyond the patent filing date.
But this may be extended if there are
governmental delays in issuing the patent.
One of the major drawbacks to patents is that
they require public disclosure of the invention
in the patent application.
The inventor must clearly describe to the world
what his or her invention is and how it works.
When the patent expires, anyone is free
to use the invention.
In cases where an inventor does not want
to make an invention public, the organization may choose
to pursue trade secret protection.
With a trade secret, the owner simply doesn't tell
anyone about the invention and keeps the details secret.
As long as the organization is able to protect the secret,
it enjoys the exclusive use of the invention.
The downside to this approach is that
if someone else does discover how an invention works,
they are free to use it without any legal repercussions.