IDEAS & RIGHTS: Howard Anawalt, a law professor at Santa Clara University for the past 35 years, has published a new book, Idea Rights. The book is called a readable, accurate accounting of how copyrights, patents and trademarks came into being and the difficulties and safeguards they present.
Idea Rights is designed for the layman, as well as law professors and students. In this Internet age, protecting intellectual property assumes a more complicated and vital role than ever before. Anawalt uses some key icons to represent the historic process of protecting new ideas and products.
These icons include: the Magna Carta, the beginning of all human rights and the cornerstone of our law; playing cards that represent how powerful royalty was in former days in granting patents (the word patent means royal permit); and a photo of playwright/wit Oscar Wilde.
That photo led to an intense, wide-ranging case involving copies. After untold copies of the photo were unleashed, the photographer demanded recompense for the reproductions, citing as his argument the human decisions made–the pose, the background, the clothing, for example. He won the case.
Other significant facts about protecting intellectual property: Copyrights last a lifetime, plus 75 years. Patents last 20 years in the U.S. Patents are issued “to advance science and to serve a new and useful purpose.” As for trademarks, they are considered a company’s most powerful identification.
Case in point: Two Nevada women who made handbags as toys for dogs were sued by Louis Vuitton for infringing on its trademark. At that time the trademark was estimated to be worth $19 billion. However, the women won the case because the dog toys were ruled a parody that didn’t diminish the Vuitton trademark.
Anawalt is on Authors@Google series at www.youtube.com/watch?v=mU46YcYAnB8. The book is $37 and can be purchased through the Carolina Academic Press at www.cap-press.com/isbn/ 9781594603136.
TEN STUPID THINGS: A professor from USF and a local corporate executive have teamed up to write guidelines for women who are just starting in business or who feel stuck in their jobs. The book is titled Ten Stupid Things Women Do To Mess Up Their Careers.
The authors are Giselle Parry of Monte Sereno and professor Patricia Mitchell. The two are longtime friends and colleagues who for years have discussed and lamented the fact that women hold only 14 percent of leadership positions despite being half of the work force.
Somehow, they felt, women must be sabotaging themselves or the statistics would be more encouraging. Thus it was that they embarked on this book. Their premise must be hitting a chord, because they’ve already been asked to write a sequel.
Two strategies that they strongly advocate and are missing from most women’s career paths are finding a female mentor and advertising one’s own successes. Finding such a mentor in a high leadership position and following her lead and advice is no easy task, since women often sabotage other women as well as themselves, it is felt.
The idea is to use the power of the relationships in your life. Networking is all-important. Self promotion is another crucial strategy for moving up. You can’t be a wallflower and expect someone to pick you, say the authors, citing other experts.
The new CEO for IBM, Virginia Rometty, said early on she was offered a big job but felt she didn’t have enough experience, so said she needed time to think about it.
“Do you think a man would have ever answered a question that way?” her husband challenged her that night.
Rometty says this exchange taught her to be very confident. Women have to take risks, she emphasizes.
“This book is just the tip of the iceberg,” Parry says. “It’s the little book I wish I had when I started my career.”
Virginia Fordice of Boulder Creek did the ink drawings for the book. It’s available through Amazon and at www.rp-author.com/tenstupidthings.
ART EXHIBIT: The artwork of Ed Lucey is on display at the senior law offices of Carney, Sugai and Sudwaks, 750 University Ave. The landscapes hang until Dec. 31. Prices range from $375 to $1,600. The law firm handles estate planning, trusts, Medi-Cal and VA benefits, probate, conservatorships.
JUST 3 PERCENT: The nearly $1.9 million raised by Friends of the Library to equip the new library has come from approximately 400 people, roughly 3.3 percent of library users. Some $217,771 remains to be raised, and the new library opens Feb. 11. Don’t miss your chance to contribute to your extraordinary new library. Email Katherine Cance at cance@me.com or 408.425.7306.
Have a tip for Main Street? Email maryannck8@gmail.com or phone 408.540.7977.
