A common question whether Copyrights, Trademarks, and Patents are the same or different often hovers over our minds. The main difference between these three common forms of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) is that they protect different assets. In today’s competitive era, clear information about copyright, trademark, and patent, and how these differ from each other is essential for protecting your business from infringement issues.
What is Copyright?
Copyright is a type of IP protection that includes the right to secure your original work, including content, images, and everything you put online, on paper, or elsewhere. Copyright encompasses the right to:
- Reproduce the work,
- Produce derivative works,
- Distribute and advertise copies,
- Represent and perform the work publicly.
Copyright Registration will bestow you with full control over how your assets are made available to others. To ensure complete protection of your copyright, you must register it with the government. Otherwise, you will be unable to sue people or companies for Copyright Infringement.
What is a Trademark?
A trademark refers to a word, symbol, phrase, or logo that recognizes and distinguishes the source of one product or service from others. Trademarks have goodwill associated with the products and services, which further helps the customers in finding their desired products.
Examples of some common trademarks are as follows:
- Words such as Nike
- Logos such as the swoosh
- Slogans such as Just Do It
Apart from giving the ability to sue the unauthorized user, Trademark Protection empowers you to grant permission to others for using your Intellectual Property.
What is a Patent?
A patent is a limited duration IP right that safeguards your inventions by not allowing others to use them.
Patent Law encapsulates:
- New and useful industrial processes,
- Machines,
- Manufactured products,
- Chemical compositions,
- Developments in assets.
A patent right gives you the complete authority to prevent others from using or selling your invention. All the responsibilities from implementing the patent law on discovering any infringement to bring the defendant in a lawsuit lie with you.
How Copyrights, Patents, and Trademarks are Different?
i) Assets Protected
- Copyrights protect the original material of the owner, for example – books, images, blogs, etc.
- Trademarks secure words, symbols, or phrases that distinguish a company’s assets from others.
- Patents ensure the protection of inventions, including processes, manufactures, machines, compositions, and improvements.
ii) Requirements
- For attaining Copyright Protection, you should provide original and creative work.
- To get your Trademark Application registered, you need to ensure that the mark identifies the source of your product.
- While applying for a patent, you should make sure that your invention is new, non-obvious, and valuable.
iii) Terms of Protection
Terms of Protection for intellectual property rights are country-specific. For example, in India:
- Copyright rights are valid for the duration, including your (owner’s) life followed by sixty additional years.
- Trademark Protection extends for 10 years from the date of application.
- Patents last for 20 years.
iv) Rights Granted
- Copyrights grant the license to use, disseminate, and publicly display your copyrighted material.
- Trademark grants the license to prevent businesses or people from creating confusion because of using marks similar to an already existing trademark.
- Patents grant the license to prevent others from using, selling, or importing your invention.
Conclusion
Due to rapid technological advancements, not just the businesses are developing but also the issues like infringement and fraud are increasing. Hence, there is a dire need to protect your intellectual property, which is possible with proper knowledge regarding all types of IP. For more visit: https://www.trademarkmaldives.com/
Comments