FAQs for Community

• Who owns the ideas submitted to AdCandy?
  As part of the user agreement, all text submissions to AdCandy, (slogans, captions, and suggestion contests entries) transiently become the intellectual property of AdCandy. We say "transiently" because although we own the submissions, we hope that we can connect those who create the submissions with those who wish to use them. 
  
• What kind of submissions does AdCandy NOT accept?
   

  We do not accept or post invention ideas, developed concepts, scripts, or jingles. We also do not knowingly accept parodies, or anything that can be construed as negative to any of the brands. We will accept constructive criticism that can make brands and products better.

• Why do you post the submissions for the public to see?
   

  After our subscribers have an adequate time to look at the submissions, we post them publicly to give the consumers a showcase for their talents and to develop the community of the web site. Legally, posting the ads is beneficial because it reinforces the idea the submission has been turned over to AdCandy and the submitter will make no future claims over the idea, exemplified by it's public posting. (It is important to reiterate that the types of submissions AdCandy accepts are not protected by copyright law anyway-we only accept slogans, tag lines, and concepts.)

FAQs for Brand Owners

• Why should I use AdCandy?

  Get a market perspective on your brand from real consumers.  Understanding how they feel and react to your brand and company can only help when making future decisions.
  

Legal FAQs

• What is a Trademark?
   

  A trademark (®, ™)  is any word (Poison), name (Giorgio Armani), symbol or device (the Pillsbury Doughboy), slogan (Got Milk?), package design (Coca-Cola bottle) or combination of these that serves to identify and distinguishes a specific product from others in the market place or in trade. Even a sound (NBC chimes) color combination, smell or hologram can be a trademark under some circumstances. The term trademark is often used interchangeably to identify a trademark or service mark. Trademarks are can be searched and applied for at the US Patent and Trademark Office:  http://www.uspto.gov/

• What is a Service Mark?
   

  A service mark (SM) is similar to a trademark, but it is used in the sale or advertising of services to identify and distinguish the services of one company from those of others.

• What is a Generic Term?
   

  A generic term is a word or phrase that is or has come to be the common term associated with or known as a particular category of goods or services to which it relates, thereby ceasing to function as an indicator of origin. For example, “clock” is a generic term for timepieces. Generic designations are not registrable or protectable. A trademark may potentially become generic if it becomes so widely known and used with a particular category of goods or services as to designate the category of goods or services. In such instances, the "mark" will not be registrable and a previous registration for such a "mark" may be subject to cancellation by a third party. Examples of marks that have become generic over time include “escalator,” “linoleum,” “zipper” and “yo-yo.” This loss of trademark status is sometimes referred to as “genericide.” It should be noted that what is generic in one country may not necessarily be generic in another, for example, the designation ASPIRIN is generic in the U.S. but is not in other countries.

• What is a Copyright?
   

  A Copyright (©) protects the original way an idea is expressed, not the idea itself. It includes artistic, literary, dramatic or musical works presented in a tangible medium such as a book, photograph or movie. This protection is given to works to prevent unauthorized copying. The general rule for a work created on or after 1-1-78, is that the copyright lasts for the author's lifetime plus 70 years after the author's death, or 95 years after publication for a work made for hire.

• What is Protected by Copyright?
   

  Copyright Protection (from the U.S. Copyright Office.) www.copyright.gov
  

  WHAT DOES COPYRIGHT PROTECT?

  Copyright, a form of intellectual property law, protects original works of authorship including literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works, such as poetry, novels, movies, songs, computer software, and architecture. Copyright does not protect facts, ideas, systems, or methods of operation, although it may protect the way these things are expressed

  
  WHAT WORKS ARE PROTECTED?

  Copyright protects "original works of authorship" that are fixed in a tangible form of expression. The fixation need not be directly perceptible so long as it may be communicated with the aid of a machine or device. Copyrightable works include the following categories:
  1. literary works;
  2. musical works, including any accompanying words
  3. dramatic works, including any accompanying music
  4. pantomimes and choreographic works
  5. pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works
  6. motion pictures and other audiovisual works
  7. sound recordings
  architectural works

  WHAT IS NOT PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT?

  Several categories of material are generally not eligible for federal copyright protection. These include among others:

  • Works that have not been fixed in a tangible form of expression (for example, choreographic works that have not been notated or recorded, or improvisational speeches or performances that have not been written or recorded)

  • Titles, names, short phrases, and slogans; familiar symbols or designs; mere variations of typographic ornamentation, lettering, or coloring; mere listings of ingredients or contents

  • Ideas, procedures, methods, systems, processes, concepts, principles, discoveries, or devices, as distinguished from a description, explanation, or illustration

  • Works consisting entirely of information that is common property and containing no original authorship (for example: standard calendars, height and weight charts, tape measures and rulers, and lists or tables taken from public documents or other common sources)

• What is a Patent?
  A Patent protects a new and useful idea, which includes a process and/or machine. It is granted by the Federal government, providing an inventor with exclusive rights to make, use and sell a patented invention. Patents have a fixed term, usually 17 to 20 years. For more information see: http://www.uspto.gov.
• What is Intellectual Property?
  
  

  Intellectual property refers to creations of the mind: inventions, literary and artistic works, and symbols, names, images, and designs used in commerce.

  Intellectual property is divided into two categories: Industrial property, which includes inventions (patents), trademarks, industrial designs, and geographic indications of source; and Copyright, which includes literary and artistic works such as novels, poems and plays, films, musical works, artistic works such as drawings, paintings, photographs and sculptures, and architectural designs. Rights related to copyright include those of performing artists in their performances, producers of phonograms in their recordings, and those of broadcasters in their radio and television programs. (From WIPO, World Intellectual Property Organization).

• Where can I learn more about Intellectual Property?
   

  INTA (International Trademark Association WWW.INTA.ORG
  WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization) WWW.WIPO.ORG