Copyright, Trademark & Patent: Which One Do You Need to Get?

copyright vs patent vs trademark

When it comes to the word “property”, the majority of people think of something that is tangible, for instance, real estate property or personal property like computers, valuable jewelry, etc. But what about intangible goods that don’t have any physical form, however, holds great value as tangible goods.

Well, there’s a term for that as well known as “intellectual property” which significantly refers to unique and original ideas, concepts such as an invention or a fictitious work. If you are the true owner of an intellectual property then you have the actual rights for holding a license or manufacture the invention or use a particularly distinct mark over the packaging (or anywhere else) or publish copies of fictitious and creative work (books, sound recordings, etc.).

Now, there are three main categories for intellectual property and they are – copyrights, trademarks and patents. Oftentimes, a marka patent or one of the other two are confused to be similar. However, the three legal rights are absolutely distinguished from one another. Below we have further detailed the distinction between the three terms. Keep reading more to learn all about it.

Copyright

Copyright can be described as a form of protective rights given to the original and new works of authorship. These authorship works are established in a tangible way of expression. Some of the subjects of copyright includes a sculpture, a literary work, a film, a piece of music, etc.

Under the Copyrights possession, the owner is granted a number of exclusive rights. The rights typically include reproduce, distribute, display or perform the work. All of the rights under the copyrights act give the owners the flexibility to commercialize their work and earn profit from it. The exclusive right also enables the owner to sell or license the work to any third-party.

Trademark

Trademark refers to something that represents or identifies a product or service such as a word, a logo, a name, a tagline or a phrase. Trademark helps the product or service to be distinguished from other similar things and stand unique in the market. The aim for the use of trademark is to avoid any confusion among consumers and give the owners the right to sue the party that infringes their trademark.

For instance, the luxury fashion brand Gucci that offers a stream of products like handbags, footwear, clothing and more. However, if another company comes up with similar products and names it as “Gucci”, selling them at significantly lower price range then it is pretty obvious that consumers would be tricked to pick and buy the competing company’s products.

The reason being pretty obvious is that the consumers would assume the products are as the same as the luxury brand since they are labelled as “Gucci”. In such a circumstance, the Trademark law would enable the original company Gucci to sue the infringing company for the misleading tactic.

Patent

Patent is an exclusive grant offered to the inventor that enables the inventor to engross the use, sale, production, import or export of the invention. This exclusive right safeguards the invention for a tenure of 20 years once the application for patent is approved.

The inventor must renew the application once the tenure of 20 years expires for further protection. If any party infringes the patent then the inventor has the right to file a lawsuit against the infringer and recover the damage caused by the infringing party. There more than one type of patent based on the nature of invention.

Conclusion

Now, marka patent or copyright may all seem to be similar but they are used for the safeguarding of different intellectual properties. The procedure to obtain them is different as well and the way they operate is vastly distinguished. Before you apply for any of the intellectual property rights make sure to understand it properly and seek consultation from an expert.

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