protect names, symbols, or other indications of a product’s source or quality. By obtaining a trademark, the owner obtains the right to exclude others from using marks, which might tend to confuse the public. The use of a similar, deceptive, or misleading mark may lead to legal action by the trademark owner.Unfortunately, most engineers in the electronics industry fail to recognise that a trademark may provide the distinction that helps customers recognise a product and thus push it to the forefront in a marketFor the ultimate in protection of IP, you’ll need to rely on a patent. Patents represent the top of the IP pyramid because they provide for the prohibition of the sale, manufacture, import, or use of a device that is covered by the patent. To provide as much coverage as possible, a well-written patent stakes out as broad an area of product coverage as possible. The key to a broad patent is a properly written technical description, or disclosure, of the invention.The disclosure should include sufficient detail for a person skilled in the pertinent art to make and use the invention, but the disclosure does not have to include a complete set of blueprints or source code. Flowcharts, block diagrams, and functional data-flow diagrams, along with text describing each step of the process or how the invention works, suffice to “enable” the invention in the patenting sense. For most inventors, writing the disclosure proves somewhat difficult, since they know too much about their invention. Assume that someone with a basic technical background will read the disclosure and write your disclosure at that level.The patenting process begins with the preparation and filing of a patent application, which includes drawings and a written description of the invention as well as claims that distinctly point out what the invention includes.The names on a patent, or the person or company assigned the patent, determine who has the...
