Finance Marketing Business

Three crucial legal frameworks – copyrights, trademarks and patents – arise from the same fundamental legal requirement. These are forms of intellectual property that protect the interest of inventors and creators. However, there are various points of differences among the three.

The fundamental difference is that the patents safeguard rights over a tangible or conceptual invention, whereas the copyrights secure documents or images created by the author. A trademark, on the other hand, can be a word or a logo that can differentiate products of one firm from the others.

Secondly, patents are the most effective forms of intellectual property, especially because they are based on strict liability principles. This is to say that even if the infringer has no deliberate intention of infringement, he will be liable for the same. Therefore, patents accord higher safety than copyrights and trademarks that allow certain exceptions like fair use etc.

A patent is normally valid for 20 years and then it moves from exclusive ownership of the patent owner, to the public domain availability of the idea. Whereas, trademarks continue for an infinite time period while copyrights are valid for 60-70 years from the date of creation of that work. Moreover, patents have the ability to protect your interests in a much more exhaustive way. This is to say that while copyrights protect only the expression of ideas, patents cover the techniques as well as the fundamental principles behind an invention.

Finally, since these three 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, the application for a patent needs intricate explanation of the invention, which is not needed in case of copyrights or trademarks. However, a copyright application demands a replica of the original work, while a trademark needs a thorough search for similar marks in existence in the market.

Discover more about Trademark Registration Singapore and discover how does an Intellectual Property protection increase the net worth of your business very fast. Click here to get your own unique version of this article with free reprint rights.

Related posts

• Different Kinds Of Patents
  A patent is a legal recognition given by a country's government to an inventor to prevent other individuals from making unauthorized use of his invention and its underlying idea for a certain period of time as put down by the law. It allows the inventor to prosecute any infringer for violating his exclusive rights over the use of the product as acknowledged by the state.
• What Is Industrial Design?
  Industrial design is the practical application of both the knowledge of arts and sciences to improve a product in its functional and aesthetic aspects, in order to enhance its market value. It can be applied prior to the introduction of a new product or for improvement of a current product.
• Your Small Business Needs a Toll-Free Number. Here is Why.
  Small business startups and entrepreneurs have something in common. A vision of David and Goliath. Both invest a lot of resources into taking down the Big Bad Corporations that enabled them to start their own business. These small businesses and entrepreneurs possess the skills and right approach. They commit themselves (rightly) to the customer. Ultimately, they have all of the tools and attitudes needed to succeed. But then something happens. Either a few slow months or some kind of "spooky" incident drains these folks of their steam. When we ask what happened, we often hear that they just couldn't compete with the Big Boys (or in some paranoid cases we even get a "they had it out for me" excuse). Come on, who really believes this?
• Your Part-Time or Full Time Business?
  One question I tend to get asked at this point is "Steve, should I run my new home-based business on a part-time or full time basis? - Should I give up my job and throw myself into it 100% both in commitment and time, or should I start working it just a few hours a week, part-time, initially?" Here's my thoughts...
• Your Own Small Business: Ebay Online Auction
  People have been talking about making money online for years. In most cases they are referring to making money in an online auction called eBay. Perhaps you tried it a couple times. You may have browsed the sales and even made some tenuous bids. EBay is a revolving door of used and collectable items. There is also a large amount of new items which are offered for auction. It is a dizzying array of items: phones, DVDs, cars, vacation time in time shares, and about everything you can imagine. What you may not have realized is that online auctions are an opportunity for the little people, you and me, to start our own business and get our own products or inventions in front of the eBay public.