Deck 40: Intellectual Property

Question 1

An employee may quit and then use information he learned at the company to compete with the company, unless there was some unfair competition or trade secret involved.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

Copyright infringement may be unintentional.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

A person may misappropriate a trade secret by unintentionally discovering it.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

A copyright would protect a photograph.

Question 5

While employed, an employee who has no restrictive employment contract with his employer may divulge secrets to a competitor.

Question 6

Some businesses choose not to obtain a patent because it provides protection for only a limited time.

Question 7

Knowing and intentional use of a counterfeit mark can be a criminal offense.

Question 8

Electronic surveillance for the purpose of acquiring trade secrets is permissible under the law of unfair competition.

Question 9

Infringement of a mark is the unauthorized use of an identical or substantially indistinguishable mark that is likely to cause confusion, to cause mistake, or to deceive.

Question 10

A patent lasts for the same period of time as a copyright.

Question 11

The Economic Espionage Act of 1996 prohibits the theft of trade secrets and provides criminal penalties for violations.

Question 12

The "Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval" is an example of a service mark.

Question 13

The characters and the names of a television show may be registered as collective marks.

Question 14

One way of keeping a trade secret is to obtain a patent on it.

Question 15

A patent may be renewed.

Question 16

Trade secret law protects a trade secret for renewable 20-year terms.

Question 17

For a mark to be protected under federal law, it must be registered with the Patent and Trademark Office.

Question 18

Georgia's company may lawfully discover Samantha's company's trade secrets if Samantha's company fails to take reasonable precautions to protect their trade secrets.

Question 19

A patent last for life, while a copyright ends after 50 years.

Question 20

Nature's Finest, Inc. develops a fruit juice bottle design and label with distinctive shades of orange, red, and green. Only the company's name and not the appearance of its product can be a trademark.

Question 21

Injunctive relief is a common remedy under the Lanham Act.

Question 22

The designation "TM" or "SM" cannot be used until and unless the mark is registered.

Question 23

Design patents grant the holder a 14-year monopoly.

Question 24

A professor photocopies fifty copies of a copyrighted chart to distribute to his students in class. This is a clear violation of the Copyright Act.

Question 25

The union mark attached to many goods in the United States is a collective mark.

Question 26

In most cases, copyright protection lasts for the period of a person's life plus an additional seventy years.

Question 27

"Palming off" was one of the earliest forms of unfair competition, but it is not found today.

Question 28

The owner of a collective mark is the producer of the goods it seeks to mark.

Question 29

Goods bearing a counterfeit mark may be destroyed without compensation to the owner of the goods.

Question 30

Federal trademark protection may be obtained for the symbol of the U.S. flag.

Question 31

The duration of a copyright is the same whether the copyright is owned by the author or if it is a work for hire.

Question 32

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 amended the Copyright Act to create limitations on the liability of online providers for copyright infringement when they are engaging in certain activities.

Question 33

Two years of nonuse raises a presumption of abandonment and loss of a federally protected trademark.

Question 34

A corporation in the business of developing genetically engineered pharmaceutical products has developed a new genetically engineered microorganism that it would like to protect. The corporation may patent the microorganism.

Question 35

The author of a creative work does not own the entire copyright.

Question 36

The effect of a "secondary meaning" is that it may make a mark distinctive enough to allow it to be protected by the Lanham Act.

Question 37

A collective mark is used in connection with goods or services to certify their regional origin.

Question 38

The word "truck" cannot be a trademark for trucks, although it could be a trademark for a new brand of designer jeans.

Question 39

T-J Computer Company has developed a new and innovative magazine and television ad campaign that it would like to protect from use by its competitors. T-J may copyright its magazine and television ads.

Question 40

A person is a direct infringer if he knowingly sells or supplies a part or component of a patented invention.

Question 41

Examples of service marks include:

A) Howard Johnson's orange roof.
B) trade dress.
C) nonfunctional design of labels.
D) All of these.

Question 42

How long does a copyright last?

A) Exactly 25 years.
B) 17 years.
C) Exactly 50 years.
D) The author's life plus 70 years.

Question 43

Wanda has an idea for a novel, but she won't have time to write it until next year. She may protect it by means of:

A) a patent.
B) a copyright.
C) registration of the idea.
D) An idea that has not yet been developed into a tangible form cannot be protected.

Question 44

Federal registration of a mark under the Lanham Act:

A) permits the registrant to use the federal courts to enforce the mark.
B) is required to establish rights in the mark.
C) makes the registrant's exclusive right to use the mark incontestable after three years.
D) All of these.

Question 45

Federal trademark protection:

A) lasts for ten years after registration.
B) can be renewed an unlimited number of times.
C) can be abandoned by non-use.
D) All of these.

Question 46

Curtis, without authorization and after many unsuccessful attempts to access the information, downloads a formula used by his employer to make an award-winning product. He plans to sell the formula to a competitor and make enough money to retire. Instead, he may face:

A) a fine of up to $500,000 or imprisonment for up to ten years.
B) a fine of up to $1 million or imprisonment for up to twenty years .
C) a fine in the amount determined to be the employer's potential loss.
D) imprisonment for up to fifty years.

Question 47

Under the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act signed into law in 2011:

A) a patent will be awarded to the first inventor to file an application for the invention.
B) a patent will be awarded to the first person to create an invention.
C) patents granted after January 2012 may be renewed for one additional term.
D) the patent application process will be more complicated, but it will harmonize the U.S. system with systems commonly used in other countries with which the U.S. trades.

Question 48

A statutorily secured monopoly right that is issued to inventors or discoverers of useful new devices or processes is known as a:

A) copyright.
B) patent.
C) service mark registration.
D) trade name registration.

Question 49

A sculptor wishes to protect one of his original works. He may do so by applying for a:

A) copyright.
B) patent.
C) service mark registration
D) trademark registration

Question 50

Trade symbols would include which of the following?

A) Service mark.
B) Certification mark.
C) Collective mark.
D) All of these.

Question 51

To which of the following limitations are the rights of the holder of a copyright subject?

A) Charitable use.
B) Compulsory licenses.
C) Palming off.
D) All of these.

Question 52

Which of the following is true under the Anti-counterfeiting Amendments Act of 2004?

A) A court may increase a damage award by three times the amount that would otherwise be awarded if a copyright violation occurs within three years of a judgment for a previous violation.
B) Counterfeit trademarks are redefined.
C) Copyright protection was extended for ten years to safeguard mask works embodied in a semiconductor chip product.
D) It amended the Lanham Act to extend protection to the owner of a trademark or service mark from any person who, with a bad faith intent to profit from the mark, registers, traffics in, or uses a domain name which is identical to or confusingly similar to a distinctive mark.

Question 53

Under copyright law, the doctrine of works for hire states that:

A) if an employee prepares a work within the scope of her employment, her employer is considered the author of the work.
B) if an employee prepares a work within the scope of her work, the employee is considered the author of the work for copyright purposes.
C) if the work is specially ordered or commissioned, it is always considered, for copyright purposes, the work of the employer.
D) a person's original creations, if committed to tangible form, are always considered to be authored by the actual creator in the law of copyright.

Question 54

Intellectual property consists of which of the following?

A) Trade secrets.
B) Patents.
C) Trade symbols.
D) All of these are considered intellectual property.

Question 55

A design patent:

A) has a duration of 14 years.
B) refers to ornamental designs for manufactured products.
C) requires a showing of novelty, ornamentality, and nonobviousness.
D) All of these.

Question 56

In the Ed Nowogroski Insurance, Inc. v. Rucker case, the court found that:

A) all former employees have an obligation to refrain from using the general knowledge, skills, and experience acquired under the former employer.
B) customer lists are always protected as trade secrets.
C) where a former employee seeks to use trade secrets of the former employer to obtain a competitive advantage, the competitive activity can be enjoined.
D) the Uniform Trade Secrets Act distinguishes between written and memorized information in determining whether the information is entitled to trade secret protection.

Question 57

Regarding trademark protection:

A) federal registration is required to establish rights in a mark.
B) an owner may abandon the mark through non-use and lose protection.
C) the owner will be presumed to have abandoned the mark after two years of non-use.
D) All of these.

Question 58

The Economic Espionage Act of 1996 defines theft of trade secrets to include:

A) stealing, obtaining by fraud, or concealing such information.
B) without authorization copying or mailing such information.
C) purchasing or possessing a trade secret with knowledge that it has been stolen.
D) All of these.

Question 59

The fraudulent marketing of one person's goods as those of another is referred to as:

A) palming off goods.
B) trade secrets.
C) dilution.
D) a tying arrangement.

Question 60

An artist would like to protect one of her original oil paintings from being sold as original prints. She may protect her painting by applying for a:

A) copyright.
B) patent.
C) trademark registration.
D) service mark registration.

Question 61

Which of the following remedies is NOT available for patent infringement?

A) Attorneys' fees in some but not all cases.
B) An accounting for profits.
C) Treble damages when appropriate.
D) Injunctive relief.

Question 62

Edwina wrote an original novel entitled "Good Thunder on the Prairie" and registered a copyright on her work. A producer read the book and thought it would make an excellent made-for-television movie, so without consulting Edwina, he developed a script based upon the novel and produced it as "Thunder Storm on the Prairie." What, if any, recourse does Edwina have under the circumstances?

Question 63

The international treaty to which the United States is a party and which protects copyrighted works is known as the:

A) Berne Convention.
B) Convention on International Copyright Protection (CICP).
C) Geneva Convention.
D) Madrid Protocol.

Question 64

An example of a "certification mark" would be:

A) Holiday Inns.
B) Xerox.
C) Real Cheese.
D) Nabisco.

Question 65

The NET Act was enacted to:

A) require publication of certain utility and plant patent applications 18 months after filing even if the patent has not yet been granted.
B) protect the owner of a trademark or service mark from any person who, with a bad faith intent to profit from the mark, uses a domain name which is a protected trademark or word.
C) extend U.S. copyright protection to works required to be protected under the World Intellectual Property Organization Copyright Treaty and the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty.
D) to close a loophole in the Copyright Act which permitted infringers to pirate copyrighted works willfully and knowingly as long as they did not do so for profit.

Question 66

Identify the following trade symbols according to their type.
a. The Underwriter's Laboratory Mark.
b. The apple used by Apple Computers.
c. The "GM" symbol that appears on General Motors' automobiles.
d. The "A" symbol used by American Airlines.
e. The Muppets characters Miss Piggy and Kermit the Frog.
f. The union-made symbol.

Question 67

The Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Samara Brothers, Inc. case involved which of the following?

A) Infringement of unregistered trade dress.
B) Infringement of a registered symbol.
C) Use of a certification mark.
D) Use of a collective mark.

Question 68

The remedies for infringement under the Patent Act are:

A) treble damages, when appropriate.
B) fines, in cases of knowing infringement.
C) imprisonment, in cases of knowing infringement.
D) All of these.

Question 69

In determining whether a mark is distinctive and famous under the Federal Trademark Dilution Act, a court may consider factors such as:

A) the duration and extent of the use.
B) the degree of recognition of the mark.
C) the degree of inherent or acquired distinctiveness of the mark.
D) All of these.

Question 70

If a copyright is willfully infringed, the owner may ask for and receive which of the following remedies?

A) Rescission and restitution.
B) Punitive damages.
C) Injunction.
D) All of these.

Question 71

Infringement of a mark occurs when:

A) a person intends to confuse purchasers.
B) it is proved that purchasers were actually confused by use of an identical or substantially indistinguishable mark.
C) and only when, the mark is identical to another mark.
D) a person without authorization uses an identical or substantially similar mark that is likely to cause confusion, to cause mistake, or to deceive.

Question 72

Identify the three types of patents, their requirements, and duration.

Question 73

Jonah, a businessman, has no connection with Harvard University, but he has a new line of computer software that he would like to market to university students and faculty under the name of "Harvard Software." In this case:

A) Jonah may in all likelihood register the name "Harvard Software" under the Lanham Act.
B) Jonah may in all likelihood be able to copyright the name "Harvard Software" under the Copyright Act.
C) it is unlikely that Jonah will be able to register the name "Harvard Software," because it falsely suggests a connection to an institution.
D) it is unlikely that Jonah will be able to register the name "Harvard Software," because it has no secondary meaning.

Question 74

A mark distinctive enough to clearly identify the origin of the goods or services can be protected under:

A) the Federal Copyright Act.
B) the Lanham Act.
C) the Berne Convention.
D) compulsory licenses.

Question 75

Discuss the concept of fair use in relation to copyright law.

Question 76

A patent would be appropriate in all but which one of the following cases?

A) The discovery of a medical use for moon rocks.
B) The invention of a miniature portable generator.
C) The discovery of a method of making soap from sand.
D) The invention of a fingernail-sized radio.

Question 77

Plant patents require which of the following elements?

A) Distinctiveness.
B) Novelty. .
C) Nonobviousness.
D) All of these.

Question 78

Kartov Corporation is in the business of developing pharmaceutical products. It uses a number of highly technical secret processes in its business. Martin worked for the company for five years and then left after an argument with one of the vice presidents of the company. He then went to work for one of Kartov's competitors, which has begun to market similar products that seem to have been produced using the secret processes developed and used by Kartov. What, if any, recourse does Kartov have under the circumstances?