Intellectual property law is as confusing as it is pervasive. Increasingly, business fortunes are won and lost on the strength of intellectual property, but intellectual property rights are subtle. Trademarks, patents and copyrights protect ideas in different ways and for different reasons.
VeriTrademark wants to provide a framework to help you understand intellectual property better. Of course, this is no substitute for retaining a good attorney who can understand the intellectual property issues that your business faces and can use the law as a tool to improve your bottom line. Nevertheless, the following paragraphs outline the many principles of intellectual property law -- designed to give you a quick and dirty understanding of intellectual property and how trademark law fits into this framework.
What is the definition of a trademark?
A trademark is a distinctive word (e.g. product name, company name), symbol (e.g. logo, picture) or device (e.g. slogan, color) that sellers affix to a product or service to...
- identify the product or service, and
- distinguish it from other products and services.
How many types of intellectual property does the federal government recognize?
Trademarks are one of three types of intellectual property rights which can offer protection via registration with the federal government. Patents, trademarks and copyrights are three distinct spheres of intellectual property; each confers a different set of rights upon the registrant.
Where is intellectual property registered at the federal level?
What does a trademark protect?
A trademarks protect consumers from confusion as to the source of a product or service.
What are some key distinctions between patent, trademark and copyright protection?
Aside from the different rights that they protect...
- Trademarks are primarily designed to protect the beneficiaries of the intellectual property (consumers), while patents and copyrights are designed to protect the creators.
- Rights associated with trademarks can last forever, while rights associated with patents and copyrights expire after a certain amount of time and enter the public domain.
Explain the difference between a trademark and a service mark.
A trademark that protects a service (rather than a product) is properly referred to as a "service mark". However, there is no legal distinction between a trademark and a service mark. They confer the same rights.
By what mechanism do trademarks protect consumers most effectively?
In the United States, trademark rights are governed by the principle of first to use, rather than first to register. As a practical matter, few rights are enforceable without federal registration, regardless of who the first user was.
What do copyrights protect?
Copyrights protect authors; a registered copyright protects "original works of authorship", including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic and certain other intellectual works. These orginal works are eligible for protection if they are "fixed in a tangible form of expression".
What do patents protect?
Patents protect inventors; inventions eligible for registration must be new, useful and non-obvious.
NOW THAT YOU UNDERSTAND THE PRINCIPLES,
LET VERITRADEMARK HELP YOU WITH THE DETAILS.
VeriTrademark can help you with your trademark, copyright and trade secrets issues. Please review Our Services for more detail, or return to Articles.
|
