This template is within the scope of WikiProject Law, an attempt at providing a comprehensive, standardised, pan-jurisdictional and up-to-date resource for the legal field and the subjects encompassed by it.LawWikipedia:WikiProject LawTemplate:WikiProject Lawlaw
This template is within the scope of WikiProject Intellectual property, a project which is currently considered to be inactive.Intellectual propertyWikipedia:WikiProject Intellectual propertyTemplate:WikiProject Intellectual propertyIntellectual property
I think that these are important concepts that should be included in any section concerning patent infringement - I was thinking, in fact, that this should be broken out into separate templates on the three major areas of IP law, since each has many important concepts. bd2412T20:34, 14 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks for your message. I am not denying the significance of these concepts. Not at all. But...
"Prosecution history estoppel" is a United States-specific patent law concept and in my opinion it would make the general IP template slightly U.S. centric, i.e. not totally neutral.
We definitely need a clear criterion for inclusion in this template. The criterion should not be complied with by too many articles, otherwise the template will become useless. I would tend to be minimalist. Specific templates should be written: {{Template:patent law}}, {{Template:European patent law}} (I just created this one), {{Template:United States patent law}}, ... I entirely concur with your idea of breaking out topics in specific templates. --Edcolins21:39, 14 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I wonder if there are other topics that have multiple infobox-type templates? I would worry that the page would get too busy. perhaps? Bryan21:53, 14 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I bow to your superior involvement in patent-related articles - but I do think a template spices up an otherwise graphic-free page. bd2412T22:23, 14 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]
My paper encyclopedia does not contain an image for each and every article. I do think a well-written article does not need more than the matter making it. I beg you not to add templates for all patent articles. They can be fairly disruptive. --Edcolins22:33, 14 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Fret not, I was just making an observation, not a declaration of intent. I will say, however, that I favor the liberal dispensation of images and templates precisely because Wikipidia is not a paper encyclopedia. bd2412T22:43, 14 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I saw the addition of the IP template to prosecution history estoppel and I was going to change it, but I didn't have the time (fighting in biopiracy). And, I do believe we've been down this road with the patent law template before. It's mighty difficult to distill what exactly ought to belong on it because of the significant variation among jurisdictions. Perhaps, we should add a link like More patent law topics... or something of the sort to the patent law topic. mmmbeerT / C / ?23:10, 14 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]
So what's the consensus here? Should we go with a general IP template, or develop separate templates for patents, copyright, etc.? When I dug up the (nascent) IP template this morning and expanded it, I was thinking of the needs of someone who really doesn't know very much about IP and could benefit from an accessible list of pertinent articles. I can see the argument for separate templates - or maybe a conjoined one; patent articles might have a patent section first and then general IP links? Oh god whatta lotta work. (I'm still in a state of shock from trying to insert a U.S. Supreme Court template into a SCOTUS decision Feist Publications v. Rural Telephone Service) Bryan23:24, 14 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I don't think anyone disagrees that we should have more specialized templates for the three areas of IP. We can basically cut this one into three pieces for starters, but we should generally agree what will go into the individual IP templates before we do that. bd2412T01:40, 15 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I took a stab at the patent law template: Template:Patent law. I can't think of any "higher" level to approach the patent law: 1) getting a patent, 2) elements of a patent, 3) infringement, and 4) capitalizing upon it. I'm just putting it out there. mmmbeerT / C / ?20:16, 15 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Purpose of the template
Should be, I think, to provide a list of general (top-level) topics that an interested newcomer can explore. We really have to resist the temptation to put tons of links in this thing, or it won't be useful to people.Bryan21:53, 14 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]
That largely depends how it's laid out, I think. I've made some fairly monstrous templates for Template:Tort law, Template:Property law, Template:Criminal law, among others. I have done so because my experience as a law student leads me to believe that laying out the breadth of a subject in a template organized like an outline is likely to best serve the community of interest for those templates. bd2412T22:22, 14 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I don't think the Criminal law template is overly monstrous - it's exactly what I had in mind! I like the way you centered the article links – this allows more material to be inserted while still remaining visible.Bryan23:11, 14 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I think the article is getting too big. I tried pairing it down, but i know little about sui generis rights.
I think if we had a patent, copyright among other templates for those articles (sub-templates, if you will), then this template could be smaller and more useful. It was getting hard to scan this template visually, and the sub-articles weren't always very useful weed ting. --71.161.216.18501:41, 30 August 2006 (UTC)[reply]
I would have expected the first category to be "Copyright ... and Related Rights" with Moral Rights being a subcategory (together with Performers Rights and, perhaps, Database Rights).
I'm reluctant to make such a change without consultation though as it may be too Euro-centric. Any feelings? Tim B12:42, 8 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Mask Work
Should this be described as either Layout Designs or Semiconductor Topographies? These seem more international terms - I've never heard of the term Mask Work being applied to any right other than the strictly US national one. Tim B12:46, 8 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]
I removed "fair use" from the template on the same grounds as doctrine of equivalents etc. It's a sub-concept of copyright and specific to the US (though of course roughly equivalent concepts occur in many other jurisdictions). Looking at the discussions below about the problems of keeping boxes generic vs having to include several different boxes, is it possible to create an IP template which has only the very high level concepts (patents, copyright) always displayed, but opens up sub-menus when in a topic with a relevant Category tag? Tim B11:40, 19 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]
I have updated the colour and style, the template style is quite old and the pic was not appropriate, it is the scale of justice, not IP related (necessarily).--SasiSasi (talk) 21:20, 31 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks for your question. I did so because, in my opinion, the classification in the template does not relate to how to register an intellectual property right and the length/term of legal protection (these aspects are highly dependent on the national jurisdiction and can even change in time as far as a particular jurisdiction is concerned), but to the substance of the right (what can be protected). Patents and utility models protect technical inventions generally characterized by an improved function or effect (technical solution to a technical problem). Industrial design rights protect the design (artistic appearance), not the technical function, and industrial design rights are therefore in their substance closer to copyright than to patents, in my opinion. --Edcolins (talk) 23:06, 18 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]
So in other words, industrial design rights are a copyright-like exclusive right granted by the patent office. This suggests to me that it's more of a sui generis right, like exclusive rights in IC masks, than one of the Big Three. --Damian Yerrick (talk | stalk) 19:44, 20 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]