How is a Copyright Different From a Patent or a Trademark?

There are a lot of similarities and differences between copyright, patent and trademark because of the common purpose of their existence – to protect the intellectual property of authors and inventors. Copyright protects original works. The patent protects inventions. The trademark protects words, phrases, symbols, smells, colors, shapes or combinations of designs to identify the source of products or services of one party and distinguishing them from the others in the open market. It is important for the customer to differentiate the different market products.

Copyright is the set of exclusive rights granted to the author of an original work. Copyright lasts for a certain time. After that the work is no longer protected and it is possible for third parties to use it without limitations.

A patent  is a set of exclusive rights granted to an inventor for a limited period of time. The right is granted to the inventor for a new and useful invention, process or any new and useful improvement which is not obvious for the professionals in the area. The patent is a right to exclude others from using the invention for the certain period of time – usually 20 years from the registration if the inventor has been paying the maintenance fees. The owner of a registered patent may commence legal proceedings for patent infringement to prevent unauthorized use of that invention. The right derived from the patent is limited in the territory of the counties in which the inventor has registered it.

A trademark  is a distinctive sign used in the business to identify and link certain products or services with their source and to distinguish the products or services from those of third parties. A trademark is a type of intellectual property. The owner of a registered trademark may seek legal protection for trademark infringement to prevent unauthorized use of that right. The owner of an unregistered trademark may also file a suit for trademark infringement but the unregistered mark can be protected only in the territories where it has been used.

The trademark goal is to protect indications of the commercial source of products or services. The patent tries to protect new and useful inventions. The copyright seeks to protect original works. Trademarks, patents and designs collectively form a subset of intellectual property known as industrial property because they are often created and used in an industrial or commercial context.

Unlike patent and copyright, the trademark protection remains fully functional as long as the owner actively uses and defends it or maintains the registrations by paying periodic renewal fee. One more difference between those three institutes is that the trademark can be “abandoned” or the registration can be cancelled if the trademark is not continuously used. The trademark must be used in order to maintain its rights. There is no need for patents and copyrights to be continuously used to maintain the protection of the law.