Tex. Local Government Code § 270.009: INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY OF COUNTY.

A county may acquire, apply for, register, secure, hold, protect, and renew under the laws of this state, another state, the United States, or any other nation:

(1) a patent for the invention or discovery of:

(A) any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, composition of matter, art, or method;

(B) any new use of a known process, machine, manufacture, composition of matter, art, or method; or

(C) any new and useful improvement on a known process, machine, manufacture, composition of matter, art, or method;

(2) a copyright of an original work of authorship fixed in any tangible medium of expression, now known or later developed, from which the work may be perceived, reproduced, or otherwise communicated, either directly or with the aid of a machine or device;

(3) a trademark, service mark, collective mark, or certification mark for a word, name, symbol, device, or slogan that the county uses to identify and distinguish the county's goods and services from other goods and services; and

(4) other evidence of protection of exclusivity issued for intellectual property.

Added by Acts 2003, 78th Leg., ch. 301, Sec. 11, eff. Sept. 1, 2003.