Intellectual property is a broad and complex term. Quite often, people are confused or mistakenly use the terms in intellectual property law. They already have spoken “copyright” the idea, trademark the brand and even”patenting” book! To understand these terms, it is important to know what intellectual property is and what it covers.
WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization) defines intellectual property as
Mind Creation: Inventions; Literary and Artistic Works; and Symbols, Names, and Images Used in Business.
The term patent, copyright, and trademark are all used for intellectual property. Although intellectual property or ideas are created in the human mind, intellectual property does not refer to these ideas. How it achieved its own ideas and the end result which patent, copyright or trademark protection. Energy-saving car design may be patented, but not the idea. The book’s story or manuscript is copyrighted, not the book itself. When you start a new company, the logo is a trademark, not an idea of creating a logo.
Trademark
Product owners and business apply for trademarks. It protects the name, phrase, slogan, symbol, design, and/or image that identifies a business or brand and distinguishes it from others in the same field.
Benefits of trademark
Registered Trademarks enhance the rights of individuals by providing legal evidence and proprietary notices. This is enough to justify a nationwide trademark exclusive right and allow the holder to sue the infringer when the case requires it. Trademarks can use the ® symbol. Although trademarks are valid indefinitely, they must be updated every 10 years.
Copyright
Copyright can be sought by authors, artists, choreographers, architects and other creative professionals. Although an idea cannot be protected by copyright, the tangible form of the idea can be. This includes original creations, photographs, sculptures, choreographers, architectural works, sound recordings, films and other creative works.
Benefits of Copyright
Copyright provides legal proof and ownership notice to individuals. If someone has a file, they can prosecute the copyright infringer in court. Copyright is valid for life.
Patent
Inventors and designers apply for a patent. Patent protection inventions have new or improved functions. This includes machine, process or chemical composition, or the design of certain products.
Benefits of Patent
When filing a patent, the owner has the exclusive right to prevent others from making, using, selling or importing the protected invention. Patent protection has been invented for 20 years, but it can not be renewed. Temporary patent lasted about one year.
These are different. However, sometimes products may enter one or more of these categories. An example is a piece of software. The software’s code will be copyrighted, and the functional expression of the idea will be patented. The name of the company or software will be classified as a trademark!
Protecting intellectual property is a complex process that evolves every step of the life cycle, whether in innovation, research or development. Thus, a single product may have patentable characteristics, a copyright-protected creative perspective, and the origin of the trademarked product.
(Disclaimer: The opinions and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect difference-between.xyz)