Frequently Asked Questions

Is the Intellectual Passport  legal?

Yes, the Intellectual Passport  is legal Intellectual Property because it is a book (i.e. a literary work).

• Anyone is entitled to write a book and, if he so wishes, publish it as long as the content does not promote hatred, violence or other unlawful acts.

• Anyone who uses the Intellectual Passport  as a means to produce a literary and/or artistic work remains the owner of his work worldwide.

• The Intellectual Passport  is based on the application of: national laws: International Conventions on Copyright and the Agreements resulting from the World Trade Organization.

• The Intellectual Passport  is therefore indubitably a legal instrument.

• The legal basis of the Intellectual Passport  is supported by numerous rulings (jurisprudence) worldwide that confirm copyright's value as an unquestionable proof of anteriority (i.e. prior art) where the origin and design of a patentable or unpatentable invention is expressed in a literary and/or artistic work.

Copyright is first and foremost: the author's right of exclusive use: the exclusive and worldwide right of production and reproduction that is systematically available to the author of a Work of the Mind (a creative literary and/or artistic work). The author enjoys such exclusive right regardless of the means or form of expression used to create all or part of his creation since, indeed, copyright is the natural right to use one's private property... By its very creation, the work is inherently the property of its author. Its publication is irrelevant to this fact...

It is an extension of the author's physical self. A Work of the Mind is the only private property that emanates naturally from humankind. Copyright is the result of ownership of one's work.

Copyright includes original dramatic, literary, musical, sculptural and other original artistic works such as architecture, drawings, paintings, movies, lyrics and photography.

Until now, innovative ideas, namely: inventions, methodologies, processes of various kinds, service-oriented concepts or new business concepts, etc... were arbitrarily excluded from copyright.

Comment: A specific form of copyright has been applied to computer software. However, this application resembles patent in its restrictions and obligations...
Use of the Intellectual Passport  eliminates these drawbacks.

In order to enjoy the many benefits of copyright (i.e. not subject to patent's restrictions), the originator of a technical device or process, the author of computer software or the creator of a service-oriented concept simply needs to become the owner of a Work of the Mind.

This new approach is now made more readily available by the purchase of an Intellectual Passport .

Copyright resulting from literary or artistic works is valid and enforceable over the author's life and for a period of 50 to 70 years after his death (the duration varies depending on the internal laws of each country).

Copyright is a right that results naturally from the creation of a Work of the Mind; its registration is voluntary and therefore not mandatory, as is its publication. If he so wishes, the author can register his work (like declaring a newborn child) under copyright at any time; that is, at any time after it has been put into tangible form. The registering authorities issue a certificate with a specific number (like a birth certificate) providing the author with the proof of his creation.

No, as soon as it is created, a Work of the Mind is the property of its author.

In so far as the author has originated a thing that never existed previously, his idea put into a tangible form is creative in essence.

If the original idea is put into tangible form and if its description is in a style and format intrinsic to creative literary and/or artistic work (created according to the techniques and rules of literature or visual art), the author of such an idea is considered the author of a Work of the Mind (i.e. an inalienable, hence universal and permanent property) and is entitled to copyright.

Literally speaking, he is the person who originates something new. In the realm of Intellectual Property, a recognized author is the person who originates a Work of the Mind. (In some countries, authorship of invention is assumed within the patent system, but in any case, the granting of a patent is not an official recognition of the authorship of the invention.)

As a declared owner of his work, the author is automatically a holder of copyright, unless there is a written agreement by which the author licenses or assigns the copyright to another person or entity... Copyright is assignable whereas ownership of a work is inalienable !

In cases of "hired talent" where the technical work is carried out by a third party (for example a ghost writer), the author, the first party, is still considered to be the owner of his work.

Since the inventor or conceptual designer is rarely a writer, he may hire a professional writer (sometimes known as a ghost writer) to transcribe the original concept in a text that follows the techniques and rules of art (i.e. literature).

No! An enterprise can only hold the commercial exploitation rights that emanate from a Work of the Mind and only if such rights were granted by the author (physical-person) through a contract of assignment or licence. Regardless of such contracts, the author remains the permanent inalienable owner of the work.

By definition Intellectual property can only result from the intellect of an individual (physical-person)... Logically, that which belong to a legal-person (an enterprise) are exclusively commercial assets including patents and other such titles of commercial exploitation. By consequence, an enterprise can not effectively defend its technical or technological secrets in court unless it can produce a contract of assignment or licence that links its commercial right to the intellectual origin of the property (i.e. the individual) from which the rights emanate.

Whether or not the author of such secret "know-how" is a director or regular employee of the enterprise, a contract of assignment or licence is key evidence that the enterprise must produce in court to demonstrate its commercial rights. Furthermore, the related intellectual property must be a seizable property ~ tangible intellectual property ~ without which a case cannot effectively be made.

U.S. Copyright Act 102: "In no case does copyright protection extend to any idea, procedure, process, system, method of operation, concept, principle, or discovery, regardless of the form in which it is described, explained, illustrated or embodied in such work".

No! In this case, copyright is not diminished since it cannot be, and for the sole reason that it results naturally from an unalienable property which can always be used to challenge third parties... What is specifically mentioned is the "protection" of the right and not the right itself. Just like the verb "protect", "protection" has no specific or clear juridical meaning. Under the given circumstances, it would seem that the legislator uses this terminology to highlight the limits of copyright to the expression of literary and artistic works. What one must further understand by the use of the word "protection", is that copyright does not grant any rights of monopolistic commercial exploitation (neither manufacturing nor distributing) for the object of the invention described in a Work of the Mind. Which is not to say that a third party is free to produce or reproduce or interpret part or all of the work for commercial purposes. This also explains why a Work of the Mind, sole property of the Author, published or unpublished, is a "movable property" which can be used to invalidate any title of monopolistic commercial exploitation (patent, design patent or industrial design) deposited at a later date by a third party.

Yes, as long as the author has neither divulged nor published his work, he has the right to acquire monopolistic titles to commercially exploit the product, or to contractually concede his copyright to third parties who may then pursue such titles.

These are titles, granted by state sovereignty, such as: trademarks, utility and design patents, industrial designs, plant patents and topographies of integrated circuits.

Their duration varies from country to country: typically, five to fifteen years for titles such as industrial designs and design patent, ten years renewable indefinitely for trademarks and twenty years for utility patents.

Depending on the type of title and international coverage being sought, their costs vary from hundreds to hundreds of thousands of dollars. Renewal fees are periodically required throughout their term to maintain their validity. (See "The Intellectual Passport  and Patent").

Providing worldwide ownership, it costs approximately as much as a national patent i.e. from $6,995 dollars + taxes (plus consultant fees).

Since writing sentences or drawing forms does not in itself constitute authorship of a Work of the Mind, the inventor must typically hire two professionals: a writer (a ghost writer, referred to as an "interlitt" and provided by USD System Editions who transcribes the inventor's biography according to the rules of literature, and a qualified drawer (draftsman, graphic artist, illustrator or other) who transcribes the graphic elements, including a description of the invention, according to the rules of his art.

With the help of these professionals, the Intellectual Passport  depicts the main aspects of the inventor's life (i.e. childhood, education, personal experience, the circumstances that led him to create his innovative concept, all from a personal point of view ~ a given cultural/psychological context) as well as the description of his invention... In order to benefit from the ghost writing service provided by USD Systems Editions, the inventor must first fill out a detailed USD System questionnaire with the help of his USD System consultant.

Yes, for several reasons! Even if he is able to write his own biography and applies the techniques and rules of literature (i.e. spelling, vocabulary, syntax, grammar and style), the inventor still benefits from the following:

• explanatory texts (included in "Part One" of the Intellectual Passport  ) that provide strategic means to defend his rights in case his copyright is infringed or his work plagiarized (unwarranted gain through deceit);
  
• an innovative business strategy (including a financial forecast) required to
  a) attract investors and business associates and b) justify his damage claims in court (if required);
• a set of contracts to support the implementation of his business strategy;
• a professional and highly distinctive presentation format, which can aid with subsequent commercial and/or legal presentations.

Even after having created his literary and artistic work (i.e. texts and drawings, respectively), the inventor would still need a business strategy, a business plan and a set of contracts. Such services alone would typically cost significantly more than an Intellectual Passport .

Moreover, business strategists, accountants and lawyers generally only master their respective professions; individually they would not, in all likelihood, be able to provide all the documents required to implement a comprehensive business strategy.

An individual who possesses literary, artistic, business, accounting and legal skills, as well as the time required to produce the work, may not need to purchase an Intellectual Passport , but may still wish to do so for the convenience and the other advantages it offers.