We are constantly surrounded with evidence of human creativity and ingenuity. Glance around any airport terminal, and you will see people glued to smartphones, tablets, e-readers, ultra-light laptops, and digital music playersdevices that did not exist 20 years ago, but that have come to feel essential to our day-to-day lives.
Intellectual property law was expressly designed to encourage the innovation and invention that is embodied in those devices. To stop would-be imitators from wholesale copying and riding on the innovators’ coattails, however, it is critical for intellectual property (IP) owners to identify and seek the appropriate type of IP protection for the various aspects of their products that are capable of being protected. An important part of doing that is to have a cohesive protection plan, and to avoid making representations when pursuing one type of IP right that may preclude the owner from asserting another type of IP right.
