IP Law Basics: The Difference Between Patents, Copyrights, and Trademarks
- Megan
- Oct 5, 2015
- 1 min read
There are different forms of protection for your intellectual property. The three major forms are patents, copyrights, and trademarks. In general, these three things protect different types of IP. So what do patents protect? Patents are actually a negative right. This means that if you are innovative and come up with an idea for a new thing, let's say a coffee maker, then you can file for a patent to prevent others from making, using, selling, or importing the coffee maker that you created. Copyrights typically protect literary or artistic works. So if you compose a song for a commercial advertizing your coffee maker you could get a copyright on the song. Trademarks protect symbols, logos, and brand names. So the name of your coffee maker would receive trademark protection.
This is a distilled version of the kinds of innovation protection that is available. Now remember, IP law is global, though, so you may want to apply for international patent protection. This gets a little bit more complicated but this post gives you a nice start to the basics. Let me know what you think about IP law. Love it? Think it stifels creativity? Let's connect! mmulaw@outlook.com

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