A patent gives the owner of some piece of intellectual property the right to be the exclusive maker or seller of that product or the exclusive owner...
A copyright is granted under United States law to those who author “original works of authorship”. A copyright occurs the moment something...
In order to get a patent or trademark on an invention, the invention must be novel, useful and non-obvious. Essentially, an invention is something that is new that has never been patented...
Contributed by: David Badanes
When an employee creates an invention and then pat...
Contributed by: Andrea Evans
Whether your business is large or small, it is imp...
Contributed by: David Badanes
What are the differences between a patent, tradema...
Contributed by: David Badanes
You just started a new company or corporation or y...
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.
Find an Intellectual Property Attorney Near You
Please visit LawFirms.com to find IP Lawyers in other cities.
We are often asked questions by our clients about how the patent filing process works, what steps are invlolved, how much it costs, etc. In an effort to shed some light on the process, we've come up with a diagram outlining the process, step by step, and included an estimate of the costs involved at each step, including typical attorney fees and USPTO filing fees. Learn how the patent process works to learn more.