intellectual property
"Copyright and patent are the same goal; They just pursue it in different fields, "Christopher Jon Sprigg, a law professor at new york University, told Mental Floss. "For copyright, it is a new artistic and literary work; For patents, it is a new scientific and technological work. " Therefore, although copyright covers books, plays and movies, patents protect medicines, inventions and technologies.
However, although copyright usually increases the author's life span by 70 years, the patent lasts only 20 years from the date of filing. This means that the public can enjoy the idea of obtaining patents for free faster and encourage fair competition, which is meaningful because scientific and technological works will bring more direct benefits.
Jeanne Fromer, a law professor at new york University, told Mental Floss: "This is why when something is still under patent protection, you will see such a high drug price, but after generic drug manufacturers enter the competitive field, the price will plummet." Bring more benefits and freer market competition to the public? This is the goal of intellectual property rights.
trademark
Trademarks, on the other hand, do not protect artistic or technical works, but protect the companies that create them. "It can help you to classify different products in a competitive market," Sprigg Mann said. There are more obvious trademarks-such as logos and brand names-but you can also register trademarks for smells, designs and sounds. The taste of Play-Doh is a trademark, just like the bell of NBC and the glass bottle design of Coca-Cola. As long as the trademark is actively used, it can continue indefinitely.
copyright
Copyright is automatically generated at the moment you produce something, while trademarks are born immediately in commercial use. Everything from the photos you took for your social media profile to your latest blog post is protected by copyright, while the name of your family business is protected by some common law trademarks. However, the formal registration of copyright allows you to collect legal compensation in infringement cases, which is a fixed amount of up to $65,438+$050,000 determined by the court (you can also recover your lawyer's fees). For unregistered copyright claims, you must prove the actual loss, such as loss of income, which is much more difficult and may lead to lower fees. Registered trademarks can also be used exclusively by you nationwide, so these benefits are definitely worth it.
patent
On the other hand, patents are not granted automatically. First of all, patent applications need to accurately describe scientific or technical work. After submission, this work needs to be thoroughly reviewed by expert [PDF] Patent examiners to determine whether the project meets their standards. Patents are granted with the widest scope of rights, so they also have the strictest examination and approval procedures.
Although there are some major differences between copyright, patent and trademark, they are all beneficial to the creators of intellectual property rights and ultimately to the public. Therefore, the next time you create something new-whether it's a book, an invention or a logo-please consider formally linking it with the US Patent and Trademark Office or the US Copyright Office. You may get benefits in the next few years.