Copyright, Trademark, or Patent - Protecting Your Intellectual Property
As a creative professional, you know that you need to be concerned with protecting your intellectual property with a copyright, trademark, or patent. Any benefit, financial or otherwise, as a result of your hard work and innovation should go to you, not to anyone who decides to slap their name on something and call it theirs.
But how do you determine whether it's a copyright, trademark, or patent that is appropriate in your situation? To avoid a timely -- and potentially costly -- rejection, familiarize yourself with each of the three types of intellectual property protection.
Copyright
A copyright is a specific type of protection that protects the expressions of ideas, such as photographs, books and other text, paintings, sculptures, computer programs, and videos. It is important to note that a copyright protects the intellectual property or creative work itself, not the underlying theme or idea of the work. Additionally, in order to be eligible for protection, there must be some amount of original authorship. Names and short phrases, for instance, cannot be copyrighted, because they are not long enough to be considered "original."
For example, if I paint a picture of a bluebird, I own the copyright of that painting. You cannot photocopy and distribute that painting, because I own the exclusive rights to it; you can, on the other hand, paint your own picture of a bluebird, because I only have the rights to my own expression of the idea of a bluebird. Your painting, while of the same subject matter, is your own expression of that subject matter.
Another example is the article you're reading right now. While you're free to write your own article on copyrights, trademarks, and patents -- your own expression of those ideas -- you are not free to copy and paste my words and call them your own, as this is my expression of an idea and I own the copyright to it.
Trademark
While names and short phrases cannot be protected by a copyright, they can be protected by a trademark.
A trademark is something that stands for a certain service or product in the public eye. Just as in a copyright, it does not protect the underlying idea; you might trademark "Sue's Doggie Daycare", but it is only that phrase that is protected -- not the idea of a daycare for dogs. I'm free to open my own doggie daycare, as long as I do not infringe on your trademark when I name my business.
When you consider a logo -- a two-dimensional artwork -- the distinction between a trademark and a copyright is less clear. But consider the function of a brand's logo: customer brand recognition. A logo does not have to be significantly unique to play a role in brand recognition -- consider Amazon.com's logo. Everyone who has ever ordered from Amazon recognizes the arrow/smile under the "amazon.com" text.
However, names and short phrases -- including company and domain names -- cannot be protected, and the simple addition of an inverted arc with a V at the end does not constitute original authorship. This logo cannot be protected by a copyright. On the other hand, eligible logos that consist of significant original authorship, as illustrated by Click and Copyright's logo copyright test, could carry both a copyright and a trademark.
Patent
A patent is a different creature entirely -- a patent does protect the underlying idea behind an invention. If you invent something significantly innovative and unique, your invention is not simple one of many ways to express that idea; the invention, in many respects, is inseparable from the underlying idea. The facetious term "reinventing the wheel" makes this clear: once the wheel has been invented, while there may be variations on the idea, the underlying invention is always at the center of these variations.
But how do you determine whether it's a copyright, trademark, or patent that is appropriate in your situation? To avoid a timely -- and potentially costly -- rejection, familiarize yourself with each of the three types of intellectual property protection.
Copyright
A copyright is a specific type of protection that protects the expressions of ideas, such as photographs, books and other text, paintings, sculptures, computer programs, and videos. It is important to note that a copyright protects the intellectual property or creative work itself, not the underlying theme or idea of the work. Additionally, in order to be eligible for protection, there must be some amount of original authorship. Names and short phrases, for instance, cannot be copyrighted, because they are not long enough to be considered "original."
For example, if I paint a picture of a bluebird, I own the copyright of that painting. You cannot photocopy and distribute that painting, because I own the exclusive rights to it; you can, on the other hand, paint your own picture of a bluebird, because I only have the rights to my own expression of the idea of a bluebird. Your painting, while of the same subject matter, is your own expression of that subject matter.
Another example is the article you're reading right now. While you're free to write your own article on copyrights, trademarks, and patents -- your own expression of those ideas -- you are not free to copy and paste my words and call them your own, as this is my expression of an idea and I own the copyright to it.
Trademark
While names and short phrases cannot be protected by a copyright, they can be protected by a trademark.
A trademark is something that stands for a certain service or product in the public eye. Just as in a copyright, it does not protect the underlying idea; you might trademark "Sue's Doggie Daycare", but it is only that phrase that is protected -- not the idea of a daycare for dogs. I'm free to open my own doggie daycare, as long as I do not infringe on your trademark when I name my business.
When you consider a logo -- a two-dimensional artwork -- the distinction between a trademark and a copyright is less clear. But consider the function of a brand's logo: customer brand recognition. A logo does not have to be significantly unique to play a role in brand recognition -- consider Amazon.com's logo. Everyone who has ever ordered from Amazon recognizes the arrow/smile under the "amazon.com" text.
However, names and short phrases -- including company and domain names -- cannot be protected, and the simple addition of an inverted arc with a V at the end does not constitute original authorship. This logo cannot be protected by a copyright. On the other hand, eligible logos that consist of significant original authorship, as illustrated by Click and Copyright's logo copyright test, could carry both a copyright and a trademark.
Patent
A patent is a different creature entirely -- a patent does protect the underlying idea behind an invention. If you invent something significantly innovative and unique, your invention is not simple one of many ways to express that idea; the invention, in many respects, is inseparable from the underlying idea. The facetious term "reinventing the wheel" makes this clear: once the wheel has been invented, while there may be variations on the idea, the underlying invention is always at the center of these variations.
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