Posts Tagged ‘protecting an idea’

As of March 16, 2013, the U.S. is changing from a First-to-Invent (FTI) system to a First-Inventor-to-File (FITF) system. The only countries that have ever used the FTI system were Canada, the Philippines and the U.S. Canada switched to a FITF system in 1989, the Philippines switched in 1998 and the U.S. switched in 2011 (effective as of March 16, 2013). So now the entire world is on a FITF system.

In a first-to-invent system, the prima facie right to the invention is given to first person who invents the actual invention, no matter when the application was filed (subject to proof of the date of invention).

Intellectual Property is a wonderful field, full of discovery and change. It is what drives the world’s commerce… the guiding force behind nearly everything with a price tag. IP is a term that refers to creations of the mind: inventions, literary and artistic works, and symbols, names, images, and designs used in commerce.

IP is divided into two categories:

1) Industrial property: including inventions (patents), brands (trademarks), industrial designs, and geographic indications of source; and

2) Copyright: which includes literary and artistic works such as novels, poems and plays, films, musical works, artistic works such as drawings, paintings, photographs and sculptures, and architectural designs.