Deck 14: Intellectual Propertypatent, Trademark, Copyright, and Franchising Law

Question 1

c14 Key
Kevin developed a novel type of bottle opener which incorporated a new and different method of removing a bottle cap.He applied for a patent on his invention,then began manufacture of the product.He stamped each unit with the words "patent pending." Another manufacturer copied his design,and began marketing the same type of opener.
The words "patent pending" have no legal significance.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

Alice and Cynthia wrote a calculus text book that was published in 1970.Alice died in 1975 and Cynthia in 1990.The copyright will expire in 2025.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

Alice took a photograph of a parade that passed by the window of the office where she worked,and submitted it to the local newspaper along with a short report on the celebrations.
Once the newspaper publishes the picture and the written account,her copyright no longer exists,as the picture is then in the hands of the public.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

Alice took a photograph of a parade that passed by the window of the office where she worked,and submitted it to the local newspaper along with a short report on the celebrations.
If another newspaper copies the picture that was published by the newspaper to which Alice gave the picture,the second newspaper would be liable for infringement.

Question 5

c14 Key
Kevin developed a novel type of bottle opener which incorporated a new and different method of removing a bottle cap.He applied for a patent on his invention,then began manufacture of the product.He stamped each unit with the words "patent pending." Another manufacturer copied his design,and began marketing the same type of opener.
Once the patent is issued to Kevin,he may take action against the other manufacturer for infringement.

Question 6

Charlie designed a piece of furniture that had a novel appearance.He registered the design,then later discovered that another manufacturer was producing exactly the same piece of furniture.
The design of a piece of furniture would not be subject to registered design legislation.

Question 7

Penny first marketed her automatic backscratcher to the public 30 months ago,and has been tinkering with its design ever since.Deciding that the original design was as good as it was going to get,she took it to a patent lawyer last week.He told her that,under the Patent Act,she will not be able to patent it because she has left it too late.
He is right.

Question 8

Artistic Goo Ltd.has registered the design of a new wooden coat rack under the Industrial Design Act.
If Artistic Goo had intended to make only 20 of the coat racks as a limited edition,there would be no way the company could protect the design.

Question 9

Charlie designed a piece of furniture that had a novel appearance.He registered the design,then later discovered that another manufacturer was producing exactly the same piece of furniture.
The only defence available to the other manufacturer would be that he had developed the design before Charlie registered his own design.

Question 10

Penny first marketed her automatic backscratcher to the public 30 months ago,and has been tinkering with its design ever since.Deciding that the original design was as good as it was going to get,she took it to a patent lawyer last week.He told her that,under the Patent Act,she will not be able to patent it because she has left it too late.
He would not have said that if Penny had approached him two months after she first started marketing it.

Question 11

c14 Key
Kevin developed a novel type of bottle opener which incorporated a new and different method of removing a bottle cap.He applied for a patent on his invention,then began manufacture of the product.He stamped each unit with the words "patent pending." Another manufacturer copied his design,and began marketing the same type of opener.
Kevin may ask the Patent Office to speed up the issue of his patent,because the other manufacturer is copying his product,and he cannot take steps to stop the infringement until the patent is issued.

Question 12

Anne has created a computer program that will help conserve energy in the home.Since computer programs cannot be copyrighted,she must go through the long and difficult process of patenting the program.

Question 13

Artistic Goo Ltd.has registered the design of a new wooden coat rack under the Industrial Design Act.
Artistic Goo must have intended that the coat racks would not be made entirely by hand by craftsmen.

Question 14

Charlie designed a piece of furniture that had a novel appearance.He registered the design,then later discovered that another manufacturer was producing exactly the same piece of furniture.
Ida has just invented a machine that diffuses radar but looks like a pair of fluffy dice.It causes police radar traps to greatly underestimate the speed at which a car is travelling.Ida can protect her new invention using the law of patent.

Question 15

Artistic Goo Ltd.has registered the design of a new wooden coat rack under the Industrial Design Act.
Artistic Goo must have intended to produce more than 50 of these coat racks.

Question 16

Alice took a photograph of a parade that passed by the window of the office where she worked,and submitted it to the local newspaper along with a short report on the celebrations.
Because Alice took the photograph while she was at work,her employer would be entitled to the copyright in the picture.

Question 17

Alice took a photograph of a parade that passed by the window of the office where she worked,and submitted it to the local newspaper along with a short report on the celebrations.
Alice may claim copyright in the photograph and the writing.

Question 18

c14 Key
Kevin developed a novel type of bottle opener which incorporated a new and different method of removing a bottle cap.He applied for a patent on his invention,then began manufacture of the product.He stamped each unit with the words "patent pending." Another manufacturer copied his design,and began marketing the same type of opener.
Because Kevin had marked his bottle openers with the words "patent pending," he is entitled to take action for infringement against the other manufacturer.

Question 19

Artistic Goo Ltd.has registered the design of a new wooden coat rack under the Industrial Design Act.
The design would not be protected if it was not registered.

Question 20

Charlie designed a piece of furniture that had a novel appearance.He registered the design,then later discovered that another manufacturer was producing exactly the same piece of furniture.
Charlie may take action against the other manufacturer for infringement of his registered design.

Question 21

If Kleenex had registered its trade name when it first started making paper handkerchiefs,it might well have lost its exclusive right to that name by now in North America.

Question 22

Copying material from the Internet can be done only with the permission of the copyright holder.

Question 23

A registered design is normally a design that would be subject to copyright if it was not for the fact that it is reproduced by an industrial process.

Question 24

While preparing an essay for her MBA class on the increased need for employers to take steps to protect confidential information in the age of computers,Margaret photocopied several journal articles,parts of which she later quoted in her paper.She did not get the permission of the authors to do so.She has not breached the Copyright Act.

Question 25

Melissa applied for a patent in May 2002,which was granted the same month.The patent will expire in

A)May 2017.
B)May 2020.
C)May 2022.
D)May 2023.
E)50 years after her death.

Question 26

When Lee,a patent agent,draws up the petition for a patent for a particular invention,she must submit detailed specifications of the invention,usually along with drawings of it,and a statement as to what is new in this invention and what uses it can be put to.

Question 27

A ________________ is a right in a new invention,a _______________________ is a right to manufacture an artistic design,a ________________ identifies a product or service,and a ________________________ is ownership in an artistic or literary work.

A)patent,industrial design,trademark,copyright.
B)industrial design,patent,trademark,copyright.
C)patent,trade name,distinctive guise,certification mark.
D)compulsory licence,licence,trademark,patent.
E)trademark,compulsory licence,industrial design,copyright.

Question 28

Jason worked as an employee of MegaByte Industries,a computer conglomerate.As part of his job,he produced a unique program for routing emergency calls to the appropriate public emergency services departments.There is no written employee contract dealing with ownership of the program.
This program can be

A)copyrighted only by MegaByte.
B)copyrighted only by Jason.
C)patented only by MegaByte.
D)patented only by Jason.
E)copyrighted only by the public emergency services that use it.

Question 29

A business consulting service calling itself "Enterprise Canada" would likely fail in a bid to register such a name because "Enterprise Canada"

A)is probably a prohibited mark.
B)is not a service mark.
C)is a certification mark.
D)is an insufficiently distinctive guise.
E)does not meet the "coined" requirement to be a trade name.

Question 30

The words "patent pending" on a product have no particular significance at law,and serve as no protection at law for a manufacturer of goods that uses such a mark.

Question 31

Lee can leave out an essential feature of the invention until the patent is granted,so that no one browsing through the patents pending descriptions could steal the idea.

Question 32

Speedy Stationery Ltd.registered the design of its line of desk accessories in 1995.Its exclusive rights to reproduce these designs will expire,at the latest,in 2005.

Question 33

Web content over which the creator of that content asserts no copyright may be copied and disseminated.

Question 34

A licence is simply the right to use an intellectual asset.

Question 35

For her new invention,Stephanie applied for a patent on May 12,2004 in Canada;on June 19,2004 in England;and on September 28,2004 in France.Her patent was duly granted under the Union Convention of Paris on October 17,2004.Her patent protection in France will expire

A)May 12,2024.
B)June 19,2024.
C)September 28,2024.
D)October 17,2024.
E)May 12,2020.

Question 36

A distinctive guise is a unique Halloween costume.

Question 37

Bell Canada created an extremely attractive,totally new design for a touch-tone telephone keypad for use in all its new telephones in public telephone booths.Bell wishes to protect the design.It should do so under

A)the Patent Act.
B)the Copyright Act.
C)the Industrial Design Act.
D)the Trade Marks Act's distinctive guise provisions.
E)the Trade Marks Act's service marks provisions.

Question 38

Small Brothers patented an invention here in Canada in 1996 for which there is great public demand. (i)If Small Bros.is not able to come anywhere near supplying the demand,MegaCorp.could apply for a compulsory licence so that it can manufacture the product.
(ii)If MegaCorp.is granted a compulsory licence,it does not have to pay Small Bros.royalties as a normal licensee must do.
(iii)If MegaCorp.is granted a compulsory licence,it must pay a reasonable royalty fee to Small Bros.
(iv)Small Bros.might lose its patent altogether if it cannot meet the demand.
(v)If MegaCorp.had independently come up with the same invention,but applied for a patent after Small Bros.applied,it could also be granted a patent.

A)i and ii.
B)i and iii.
C)i,ii,and iv.
D)i,iii,and iv.
E)i,iii,iv,and v.

Question 39

Jason worked as an employee of MegaByte Industries,a computer conglomerate.As part of his job,he produced a unique program for routing emergency calls to the appropriate public emergency services departments.There is no written employee contract dealing with ownership of the program.
If the program were copyrighted,under a written employer/employee contract,by MegaByte,

A)Jason would have the right to have his name associated with it unless the contract said otherwise.
B)Jason would have the right to have his name associated with it no matter what the contract said.
C)The length of copyright protection for the program would be 50 years.
D)Only Jason could licence the program to the public emergency services that wished to use it.
E)Neither MegaByte nor Jason would have any rights unless the copyright were registered.

Question 40

Unauthorized duplication of material found on the Internet constitutes copyright infringement.

Question 41

A person walks into a restaurant and asks for a Coke.If the restaurant serves other colas,but not Coke,what should be said by the staff? Explain why this would be the case,with specific reference to intellectual property legislation.

Question 42

Kleenex® is an example of a

A)service mark.
B)trademark.
C)certification mark.
D)copyright.
E)trade name.

Question 43

The contour bottle used by Coca-Cola Company is an example of a

A)distinctive guise.
B)trade name.
C)copyright.
D)patented design.
E)passing off.

Question 44

The Eaton Centre in Toronto commissioned Michael Snow,an artist,to create a work of art for the Centre.Snow's sculpture of a great flight of Canada geese is now a tourist attraction.At one point,the Eaton Centre placed red bows on the neck of each goose as part of its Christmas promotion and added a bow to the neck of the goose in its trademark logo.Michael Snow sued to have the Centre remove the bows from his sculpture.

A)Under what provision of what act could he do so,since he had been paid for his work and had assigned his rights in it to the Eaton Centre?
B)What do you think he could argue?

Question 45

Entertainment Promotions International owns the Canadian merchandising rights to the registered identifying logos of numerous prominent rock groups,for use on such things as buttons,T-shirts,and posters.These rights are worth many millions of dollars.Illegal reproduction of merchandise with the logos and unauthorized sales of the merchandise have cost Entertainment Promotions International millions of dollars in lost sales and the devaluation of legitimate products because of the poor quality of the bootlegged products.

A)What legislation would protect Entertainment Promotions International in this case?
B)What rights does Entertainment Promotions International have,and what can it do to prevent this happening again?
C)Suppose an unauthorized seller made it clear that it was selling "Genuine Imitation Rock Group T-shirts";could Entertainment Promotions International do anything about that,and why or why not?
D)What other penalties do the illegal merchandisers face?

Question 46

Identify and discuss the advantages and challenges relating intellectual property protection as the commercial world becomes more globally integrated.