Chapter 7 - Licensing To Protect Telecommunications Intellectual Property

Abstract

This chapter reviews the role of patents, trademarks, trade secrets, and copyrights in protecting intellectual property rights and the most effective use of licenses. In addition to import/export issues, a second major issue for companies participating in the expanding international telecommunications market is protection of their intellectual property. Typically, companies seek patents, copyrights, trade secrets, and trademarks to protect their inventions, new services, and unique contributions to the capabilities and efficiencies of the telecommunications industry. However, these protections are sometimes not easy to obtain, and they generally do not follow the products beyond national borders. Since the details of intellectual property law vary in each country or region, companies who sell internationally or participate in several markets must file separate patents, copyrights, and trademarks wherever their equipment, software, or services are offered. Where intellectual property protections are not obtained, however, a standard practice in high-tech industries, such as telecommunications, is for companies to acquire a piece of a competitor's equipment or a copy of a competitor's software, and to take it apart to discover its underlying design. Hardware and software developers that have invested a tremendous amount of time, energy, and money into developing their products view reverse engineering and other forms of copying as “legal theft” of their work efforts. Their concerns about reverse engineering and other challenges to their intellectual property rights increase as more hardware, software, and services are traded among nations. To protect themselves, developers continuously seek ways to legally prohibit or limit the copying of their products, protect their intellectual property claims, and place themselves in the best possible legal position to argue a claim if their product is copied and a similar product is created.