The Key Differences Between Patents, Copyrights And Trademarks
Patents, trademarks and copyrights are various aspects of a single idea. They are different types of intellectual property that protect the rights of the owner of an invention or creation. However, there are several key points of differences among the three.
One of the key differences is that the patents essentially protect the physical or conceptual inventions, while copyrights protect literary, artistic or other such works. On the contrary, trademark does not always need to be original, as it can include any word or symbol that can identify an item or brand.
The next important thing that differentiates patents from others is the high standard of safety provided by it due to strict terms and conditions. This means that even if the infringer has no real knowledge of the infringement, he will be held responsible for the same. Hence, patents provide a lot more safety than other forms of IPRs without any scope for exceptions like fair use and other such provisions.
The usual period for a patent validity is 20 years, after which the rights of the patent owner cease to exist forever and the invention can be used by anyone. However, copyrights are usually valid longer, for about 60-70 years from development and trademarks carry on for even longer periods. Moreover, patents have the ability to protect your interests in a much more exhaustive way. Patents protect not only the final creation like copyrights do but they also safeguard the principles and techniques applied in a specific invention.
Finally, since these 3 kinds of IPR offer different levels of protection for different things, the processes for submitting an application for them are also significantly different from each other. For instance, while a patent application demands comprehensive description of the invention to be disclosed, copyright just needs a copy of the original creation and trademark requires a database check for already existing marks that are currently in use.
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categories: IP lawyer,trademarks,copyright,patents,law,IP,ideas protection,business idea protection,protecting business ideas,business value,Intellectual property
