The notion of protecting knowhow is strange to those who think of intellectual property as comprising patents, trademarks, and copyrights. Knowhow is not associated with agencies of the US federal government that issue “Letters Patent” and Trademark and Copyright Registration Certificates. Knowhow has no federal agency to give it sovereign gravitas. However, public and private schools issue documents, such as diplomas, degrees and certificates, that indicate particular students have demonstrated knowhow by meeting defined requirements.

Federal rights are exclusive; diplomas and degrees confer no such rights. The exclusive rights attached to letters patent and registration certificates but not to knowhow is great but it is not everything. Patent rights, for example, have limited lifetimes and do not protect market share from competitors who design around those patents, invalidate patents, or obtain their own patents. Patent rights do not guarantee the patented product will have a market, will work as expected, or will never be obsolete. And patents are not self-enforcing.