Mackinac Island is a city in Mackinac County in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2000 census, the city had a permanent population of 523, although there are thousands more seasonal workers and tourists during the summer months. From 1818–1882, the city was the county seat of the former Michilimackinac County, which was later organized into Mackinac County with St. Ignace as the county seat. The city includes all of Mackinac Island and the unpopulated Round Island. The city also includes all of Mackinac Island State Park, although that park is governed by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and the Mackinac Island State Park Commission. The city is served by the Mackinac Island Public School. A unique local ordinance prohibits the use of any motor vehicles on the island. The most common means of travel are foot, bicycle, or horseback. Certain enumerated exceptions include emergency vehicles, electric wheelchairs for those with disabilities, snowmobiles in winter, and golf carts for on-course use only. Mackinac Island is home to the famed Grand Hotel, where the 1980 movie Somewhere in Time was filmed. That film presents a rare exception in which motorized vehicles were allowed on the island.

What is intellectual property law?

Under intellectual property law, owners are granted certain exclusive rights to a variety of intangible assets, such as musical, literary, and artistic works; discoveries and inventions; and words, phrases, symbols, and designs. Common types of intellectual property include copyrights, trademarks, patents, industrial design rights and trade secrets. Intellectual property law involves advising and assisting individuals and businesses on the development, use, and protection of intellectual property -- which includes ideas, artistic creations, engineering processes, scientific inventions, and more.

Answers to intellectual property law issues in Michigan

A patent is a document issued by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) that grants a monopoly for a limited...

Some types of inventions will not qualify for a patent, no matter how interesting or important they are. For example...

In the context of a patent application, an invention is considered novel when it is different from all...

Once a patent is issued, it is up to the owner to enforce it. If friendly negotiations fail, enforcement involves...

Patent protection usually ends when the patent expires.

For all utility patents filed before June 8, 1995,...

Typically, inventor-employees who invent in the course of their employment are bound by employment agreements that...

On its own, a patent has no value. A patent becomes valuable only when a patent owner takes action to profit from...

Copyright protects works such as poetry, movies, video games, videos, DVDs, plays, paintings, sheet music, recorded...

For works published after 1977, the copyright lasts for the life of the author plus 70 years. However, if the work...

The term "trademark" is commonly used to describe many different types of devices that label, identify, and...