How do copyrights, trademarks, and patents differ?

Copyrights, trademarks, and patents protect different intellectual property.

• Copyright protects any original work of authorship. This includes literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works, such as movies, songs, novels, computer software, and architectural works. Copyright does not protect ideas, names, or short phrases.
• Trademark law protects the names, words, logos, symbols, and even, in some cases, sounds or colors used on products and in connection with services. Trademarks serve to indicate the source of the products or services and to distinguish them from others.
• Patents, in contrast, protect inventions. Patents can be granted for ideas that result in inventions which are novel, useful, and non-obvious.

Copyright, trademark, and patent protection may cover different aspects of the same product. For example, software can be protected by both patents and copyrights. Another example is a logo for a brand. The logo, which indicates that it is from a particular source, may be protected as a trademark, and at the same time, the creative and artistic aspects of the logo may be protected by copyright.

Copyrights, trademarks, and patents last for differing periods of time in the U.S.

• The duration of copyright protection depends on several factors. For works created after January 1, 1978, by an individual author, protection lasts for the life of the author, plus 70 years. For works created anonymously, pseudonymously, and for hire, protection lasts 95 years from the date of publication or 120 years from the date of creation, whichever is shorter.
• A utility patent that was issued after June 8, 1985, will generally expire after 20 years, and a design patent will generally expire after 14 years.
• Trademark protection, in contrast, can last as long as the trademark is used in commerce.
  In addition, the processes for securing copyrights, trademarks, and patents in the U.S differ.
• A work has copyright protection the moment it is created and fixed in a tangible medium. Registration of a copyright is voluntary, but registration is often recommended and is necessary to file suit against infringers. Early copyright registration enables claims for statutory damages and attorney’s fees, both powerful tools in policing against infringement.
• Trademark registrations are not required in the U.S., but they provide certain advantages, including the ability to enforce anywhere in the U.S., and, at times, an ability to secure “constructive” rights that predate your actual use of the mark. Outside the U.S., trademark registrations typically are necessary in order to ensure freedom to operate and to maintain enforceable trademark rights.
• Inventions in the U.S. are not protected by patent law unless the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has issued a patent for the invention.

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