small business in your garage developing and manufacturing innovative educational toys
Assume that you have started a small business in your garage developing and manufacturing innovative educational toys that you plan to sell on eBay. The first toy that you develop is made of a unique combination of materials which when used together on a single toy provides unique tactile experiences for children between the ages of 1 and 3 years old. The unique tactile experience provided by the toy has been shown, by research which you commissioned at a local University, to accelerate certain learning skills in children of this age. The learning experience is enhanced, according to your research, if the child is listening to a very specific rhythmic tune which you also developed. The package in which you sell the toy contains a digital copy of the rhythmic tune. Your research also showed that children in this age group are intellectually drawn to packaging which contains a very specific shade of yellow. This particular shade of yellow is not currently sold on the market. The research you commissioned specified the exact combination of colors needed to achieve this specific shade of yellow which you use liberally on the outside of the package containing the toy and the digital copy of the rhythmic tune. The only writing on the outside of the box is the URL for your company’s website and the name of the toy which you decided to be “superSMARTkids” (written exactly as it appears in the quotes). Your paper should first list anything described above which qualifies as your intellectual property. Next, for each intellectual property asset you listed:
- Determine the type of intellectual property protection you will need to pursue for that asset (i.e. Trademark, trade name, service mark, service name, copyright, utility patent, or design patent). Explain your choice.
- State the length of time for which you will be granted a monopoly if your intellectual property rights are recognized by the appropriate government agency. How does this length of time affect your business?
- Identify whether or not you can obtain a renewal of your intellectual property rights after the initial monopoly and if so, for how long? How does this affect your business?
- State whether this intellectual property right can be obtained only at the state level, at the federal level, or both. How does this length of time affect your business if you do or do not obtain the IP rights?
