Types of Intellectual Property Lawyers:

Spotlight on Intellectual Property

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Intellectual Property Protection

The term "intellectual property" encompasses three types of assets: Copyrights, Trademarks, and Patents. Most companies own Intellectual property rights to at least one of those. There are key important protection rights to be aware of that apply to each type of asset.

Learn More about Intellectual Property Protection: Patents, Trademarks, & Patents

Intellectual Property is the group of legal rights governing inventions and creations. Intellectual property rights include patent, copyright, trademark and trade secret rights.

Trademarks - A trademark is a word, name, symbol or device which is used in trade with goods to indicate the source of the goods and to distinguish them from the goods of others. Trademark rights may be used to prevent others from using a confusingly similar mark, but not to prevent others from making the same goods or from selling the same goods or services under a clearly different mark.

Although trademark registration with the PTO is not required to establish trademark rights, registration is advantageous in the case of conflict. Unlike patent and copyright protection, trademark rights can potentially be of unlimited duration, lasting as long as the mark is in use by its owner.

Copyrights - A trademark is a word, phrase, logo or other symbol, used to identify a product, the source of a product and the manufacturer or merchant. You can register a trademark with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Patent - A legal grant issued by a government permitting an inventor to exclude others from making, using, or selling a claimed invention during the patent's term. The TRIPS Agreement mandates that the term for patent applications filed after June 7, 1995, runs 20 years from the filing date.

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