One major legal concern common to start-ups and non-profits is intellectual property (IP). Though not every entrepreneurial entity may deal with IP issues, many will need legal assistance with trademark, copyright, patent, and other IP concerns. Conducting legal research in this field parallels legal research in other fields in many ways; researchers will want to consult a variety of secondary sources and primary law. The primary law will include statutes, regulations, and cases, as well as supporting documentation like guidance materials from regulatory agencies. There are a number of publications specifically directed towards IP, including specialized treatises, toolkits on legal research databases, and free web resources provided by governments or by non-profits that assist other non-profits. This section of the Entrepreneurial Law Guide provides links to various types of secondary sources, primary law, and government assistance available to researchers, which will identify multiple source options for locating and searching within this material.
Several legal databases have toolkits, check lists, and other helpful guidance material for researching IP. Some recommended materials include:
The United States' patent laws are codified in Title 35 of the United States Code. The text of the Act, including amendments, is available online in a number of places, including freely from the U.S. Government Publishing Office and from the Cornell Legal Information Institute. Title 35 has been enacted by Congress as a positive law title, meaning that this U.S. Code title is legal evidence of the law (read more about the distinction between positive law and non-positive law titles here).
Through its website, USPTO publishes a number of extremely useful resources for both individuals and lawyers practicing in this area. Among the most useful are:
The Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) is housed within the USPTO. Its duties review of adverse decisions, review of appeals of reexaminations, derivation proceedings, inter partes and post-grant reviews, and rendering decisions on interferences.Through its website you can find:
In addition to the law governing patent application and enforcement, it is also important to be able to find and research patents themselves. Researching prior patents can be a complex process; it is not unusual to pay significant search fees. The following sources can help you locate and research patent history:
More information on patent research can be found in our research guide on intellectual property.
The United States Copyright Act is codified in Title 17 of the United States Code. The text of the Act, including amendments, is available online in a number of places, including freely from the U.S. Government Publishing Office, the U.S. Copyright Office, and from the Cornell Legal Information Institute. Title 17 has been enacted by Congress as a positive law title, meaning that this U.S. Code title is legal evidence of the law (read more about the distinction between positive law and non-positive law titles here).
Although not carrying the force of law, the U.S. Copyright Office maintains several helpful guidance documents and explanatory publications to help practitioners and the public understand how the copyright office functions and how copyright law applies.
Unlike patents, copyright interests need not be registered or recorded to take effect. However, registration carries significant benefits for copyright owners (for example, access to substantial statutory damage awards in the case of a successful copyright infringement lawsuit) and so many commercial works and other important works are registered with Copyright Office. Full records for older works are not yet available online, but below are some good sources for information about registration records:
More information on copyright research can be found in our research guide on intellectual property.
Federal trademark law in the United States traces its roots to the Lanham Act, a law enacted in 1946 to provide for trademark protection, and to protect from trademark dilution and false advertising. As its placement in Title 15 (on Trade and Commerce) indicates, federal trademark law focuses directly on the impact of trademarks on the facilitation of trade and their impact on consumers. The text of the Act, including amendments, is available online in a number of places, including freely from the U.S. Government Publishing Office, or the Cornell Legal Information Institute.
Through its website, the USPTO publishes a number of useful resources for both individuals and lawyers whose practice addresses trademarks. These include:
At the federal level, trademarks are registered with the USPTO. Among other things, the USPTO reviews applications and accompanying materials (all applications require some representation of the mark) and assesses the application's compatibility with federal trademark law and USPTO classification guidelines
More information on trademark research can be found in our research guide on intellectual property.
