Executive Summary
The application of the patents and trade secrets is fundamental for the protection of the JSP invention. The protection of JSP innovation is based on legal approaches to the use of the intellectual property. The capacity to adequately protect the innovation at JSP is vital for the company’s growth and development. This memo creates an understanding of the significance of protecting the JSP innovation either as a patent or as a trade secret. The analysis offers critical insights on the best approach to ensure the safety of critical information in the company. Hence, develop a competitive edge for the company that can enable it to remain relevant in the industry.
Legal Analysis: Applying for a Patent and of Relying in Trade Secret Protection on JSP Invention
It is fundamental to note that the protection of intellectual property in the form of innovations is fundamental to both the earthly authority and God’s view. Several Biblical texts indicate the profound and extensive value given to the protection of the intellectual property belonging to a particular person (Headley, 2020). For example, in Exodus 20:15, it clearly states that “You shall not steal.” The stealing of someone’s work, ideas, or invention is a violation of the teachings of God. Deuteronomy 27:17 complements the verse by stating that “cursed is the one who removes his neighbor’s landmark.” This follows a clear warning in Deuteronomy 19:14, which posits that “you shall not remove your neighbor’s landmark, which the men of old harvest, in your inheritance which you will inherit in the land that the LORD your God is giving you to possess.” The contemporary world insights can relate intellectual property to the inheritance to which the innovation acts as the landmark entitled to a particular individual (Barbe & Linton, 2016).
Ephesians 4:28 states that “let him who steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who need.” The stealing of creative work that is constituted in the invention, such as the JSP’s, is going against the word of God. The trade secrets and patents provision serve as a further deterrence to the stipulated laws on stealing. Due to the context of modern society – the reliance of laws and regulations such as the “Federal statutes 17 U.S.C. Section 506 – clearly elaborate what it entails to involve in the offense of criminal copyright infringement” (Headley, 2020). The infringement of criminal offense cautions against the reproduction and distribution of protected information (McGurk & Lu, 2015). The intellectual property should be protected against theft and stealing of patented invention. Thus, both the law of the land and God’s Holy Book cautions on the theft of trade secrets and patents.
Positives. The trade secret provides a critical mechanism that allows the protection of inventions that do not meet the patentability criteria. This is essential to protect inventions that are not sufficiently inventive until they attain the patentability capacity (Linton, 2016). The use of trade secrets to protect inventions in JSP is bound to no time giving the company sufficient time for development. Trade secrets require no registration costs nor compliance with formalities such as disclosing the information to relevant government authorities. Therefore, the consideration of using trade secrets to protect the JSP invention for a long time without prior restrictions.
However, where the trade secrets are limited, the use of patents is essential to protect the JSP Invention. To a high extent – the use of patent guarantees that there is no other entity that can use the information for further developments. Patents provide long-term protection measures vital to the JSP invention without putting the information at risk of manipulation.
Negatives. The use of a trade secret is limiting as it does not give exclusive rights to the owner of intellectual property that provide the capacity to exclude others. This means that third parties can inspect, dissect, analyze, and advance the invention from a company for their own benefit. It is difficult and often costly to protect information that been made secret (Barbe & Linton, 2016). Instead, trade secret opens secreted information to the public sphere attracting further scrutiny. Thus, trade secret gives room for patenting by someone else with the capacity to develop the invention and its information through legitimate means.
Steps to Protect the Invention Under a Patent Filling
The filling of patent protection application is conducted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The USPTO stipulates that keeping a written record documenting your invention is vital to provide irrefutable protect the process towards the development of the innovation. JSP’s records of the invention ought to securely keep giving direct rights and proof of their innovation process (Van Norman & Eisenkot, 2017). The JSP should ascertain that the invention meets the patentability criteria. This ensures that the invention has undergone all the necessary testing and meets the required standards for an advanced invention to avoid being classified as a trade secret. The JSP evaluation of the commercial potential of the invention is fundamental to see the correct USPTO patent categorization. This is in terms of profit and revenue generation capacity; the invention has to create benefits to the company. The JSP invention must follow a thorough patent search to determine it is unique and different from all earlier developments. This vital to ascertain the authenticity of the JSP invention to avoid copyright issues that the company itself is seeking (Jolly et al., 2012). Finally, application for the patent (either a regular patent application (R.P.A.) or a provisional patent application (P.P.A.)). The application is filed with the USPTO to attain approval ratings for the patent standards for the JSP invention.
Steps to Protect the Invention If Treated as a Trade Secret
The protection of JSP invention, if regarded as a trade secret, should follow strict measures to ensure maximum security for the information. That is, the JSP invention should be guided by the use of non-disclosure agreements (N.D.A.s) to ensure that the employees in the organization involved in the invention are bound to secrecy (Yeh, 2014). The leak of information should be limited through maintaining minimal contact of the computers used in the development of the invention to the internet. The designated should provide a local area network (LAN) that allows the invention of participants only to share information, knowledge, and insights on the development of the invention. The trade secret level maintains high standards of confidentiality, ascertaining that JSP invention remains under tight lock (Crass et al., 2019). Drastic measures such as using designated rooms with restricted access security credentials are essential to control the number of persons that access the information. Thus, it enables the secret to remain so for sufficient duration enough to meet the patentability criteria.
Application/Conclusion
The JSP invention should utilize the trade secret as the favored approach. This is based on the fact that the invention is yet to be fully developed. The use of trade secret measures is vital to ensure that the JSP invention creates the necessary buzz and market anticipation to generate higher commercial benefits. The trade secret is vital to enable the timely launching of the innovation – a time when competitors are dormant to ensure you take advantage of the market positioning and competitiveness. Furthermore, trade secret allows all the necessary steps to be taken in the confidential capacity as the company works to meet patentability standards.
References
Barbe, A., & Linton, K. (2016). Trade Secrets: International Trade Policy and Empirical Research. Draft Version: August 5, 2016.
Crass, D., Garcia Valero, F., Pitton, F., & Rammer, C. (2019). Protecting Innovation Through Patents and Trade Secrets: Evidence for Firms with a Single Innovation. International Journal of the Economics of Business, 26(1), 117-156.
Headley, T. (2020). Is the Bible Relevant to Intellectual Property? Houston Baptist University – C.C.B. https://hbu.edu/center-for-christianity-in-business/legal-corner-item/is-the-bible-relevant-to-intellectual-property/
Jolly, M., Fletcher, A. C., & Bourne, P. E. (2012). Ten simple rules to protect your intellectual property. PLoS computational biology, 8(11).
Linton, K. (2016). The importance of trade secrets: new directions in international trade policymaking and empirical research. J. Int’l Com. & Econ., 1.
McGurk, M. R., & Lu, J. W. (2015). Intersection of patents and trade secrets. Hastings Sci. & Tech. L.J., 7, 189.
Van Norman, G. A., & Eisenkot, R. (2017). Technology transfer: from the research bench to commercialization: part 1: intellectual property rights—basics of patents and copyrights. JACC: Basic to Translational Science, 2(1), 85-97.
Yeh, B. T. (2014). Protection of trade secrets: Overview of Current Law and Legislation. Congressional Research Service.