LLM Intellectual Property Law 1 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Under US copyright law, what is the duration of copyright protection for a work created by an individual author after January 1, 1978?
- Life of the author plus 70 years (Correct answer)
- 28 years with one renewal
- 95 years from publication
- 120 years from creation
Correct answer: Life of the author plus 70 years
Under the Copyright Act, works created by individual authors on or after January 1, 1978 are protected for the life of the author plus 70 years.
Question 2: Which of the following is NOT eligible for copyright protection under US law?
- Facts and ideas (Correct answer)
- Original literary works
- Musical compositions
- Architectural works
Correct answer: Facts and ideas
Copyright protects original expression, not the underlying facts or ideas; the idea-expression dichotomy prevents monopolization of information.
Question 3: For a trademark to be registrable with the USPTO, it must be:
- Distinctive and capable of identifying the source of goods or services (Correct answer)
- Used in interstate commerce for at least five years
- A design rather than words
- Approved by at least three competing businesses
Correct answer: Distinctive and capable of identifying the source of goods or services
A trademark must be distinctive — either inherently distinctive or having acquired secondary meaning — to be eligible for federal trademark registration.
Question 4: Which doctrine in patent law prevents a patent owner from enforcing a patent against a product that embodies a variant not literally covered but equivalent to a claimed element?
- Doctrine of Equivalents (Correct answer)
- Prosecution History Estoppel
- Claim Construction
- Prior Art Defense
Correct answer: Doctrine of Equivalents
The doctrine of equivalents extends patent protection to insubstantial variations from the literal claim language, protecting the patent's essential function.
Question 5: A trade secret is protected under the Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA) when it satisfies which requirements?
- The information has independent economic value from secrecy and reasonable measures are taken to maintain it (Correct answer)
- It is registered with the USPTO and used commercially
- It is disclosed only to employees under NDA
- It cannot be independently discovered by competitors
Correct answer: The information has independent economic value from secrecy and reasonable measures are taken to maintain it
Under the DTSA, a trade secret must have independent economic value from not being generally known and be subject to reasonable efforts to maintain its secrecy.
Question 6: In copyright law, the 'fair use' doctrine is assessed using which four-factor test?
- Purpose, nature of work, amount used, and market effect (Correct answer)
- Originality, creativity, novelty, and public benefit
- Commerciality, authorship, distribution, and access
- Attribution, transformation, reproduction, and intent
Correct answer: Purpose, nature of work, amount used, and market effect
Section 107 of the Copyright Act codifies fair use as a defense based on: purpose and character of use, nature of the copyrighted work, amount used, and effect on the potential market.
LLM Intellectual Property Law 1
Under US copyright law, what is the duration of copyright protection for a work created by an individual author after January 1, 1978?