Patent: Protect and Innovate (Infographic)

The very first step to acquire an intellectual property protection and achieve development and innovation for any work or invention is through a formal patent application. Filing a patent does not take a long process provided that the appropriate requirements and enough information are obtained. Determining the basic concept of patent filing process will help simplify the procedure which allow a successful patent application. In this way, patent grants will surely be achieved and innovation for a unique and useful work will always be possible. 

Michael Bolton vs the Isley Brothers

Michael Bolton and the Isley Brothers ended up in a court battle for the copyright of a song that was first written and recorded by the Isley Brothers in 1964.

Background 

The Isley Brothers is a popular rhythm and blues group. They were known for songs such as “Shout,” “This Old Heart of Mine,” “Twist and Shout,” “Fight the Power,” “Who’s That Lady,” and  “Love is a Wonderful Thing.” The latter was written and recorded by the Isley Brothers for United Artists. They received the copyright for this song in 1964. The United Artists released the song as a single in 1966. The song ended up at number 110 on the chart of “Bubbling Under the Hot 100.” Michael Bolton rose to fame in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Bolton led a soul-music revival for songs by Percy Sledge and Otis Redding. In 1991 Bolton teamed up with Goldmark to write a song called “Love Is a Wonderful Thing.” The song was released as a single the same year and landed at number 49 on Billboard’s year-end pop chart. 

By February 1992, the Isley Brothers had filed a copyright infringement suit against Bolton. There was a trifurcated trial. The first phase of the trial took place in April 1994. Bolton was found guilty of infringing on the Isley Brothers copyright. The second phase of the case took place five days later. The jury determined that part of the profits from Bolton’s “Time, Love and Tenderness” on which “Love Is a Wonderful Thing” was featured and commercial uses of the song should be awarded to the Isley Brothers.

Types of Prior Art Searches

A prior art search is conducted by people with new inventions. Such a search is used to verify whether an invention can be classified as new when compared to existing information. Prior art searches fall into four categories. These include the patentability/novelty search, clearance/right to make-use-sell search, validity/invalidity search, and landscape/state of the art search.

Patentability/Novelty Search

A patentability search locates prior art and determines whether the patent application under review can be considered as a novelty. Conducting a free patentability search may save you money, however such a search may not be as efficient as one conducted by a professional. A professional search is more likely to yield results that a free search may overlook. If you’re relying on a patentability search by the Patent and Trademark Office, you may run into setbacks in the long run, since this search may only be compared to a small number of works. Therefore, the search will be invalid, and may end up costing you more than you anticipated.