As an entrepreneur or aspiring small business owner , one of the most significant considerations that may come to mind is how to protect your work . What steps should you take to ensure that someone else couldn ’ t lay claim to your product or service ? Does a patent , copyright or trademark apply ?
The U . S . Patent and Trademark Office website provides a clear distinction between these three types of protection :
Patents
A patent for an invention is the grant of a property right to the inventor , issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office . It provides the patent owner with the right to exclude others from making , using , or selling the patented invention . Generally , the term of a new patent is 20 years from the earliest date on which the application for the patent was filed in the United States ( not including the provisional patent application , if any ). There are three types of patents including Utility Patents , Design Patents , and Plant Patents .
Copyright
Copyright is a form of protection provided to the authors of “ original works of authorship ” including literary , dramatic , musical , artistic , and certain other intellectual works fixed in a tangible medium , both published and unpublished . The 1976 Copyright Act generally gives the owner of copyright the exclusive right to reproduce the copyrighted work , to prepare derivative works , to distribute copies or phonorecords of the copyrighted work , to perform the copyrighted work publicly , or to display the copyrighted work publicly .
Trademarks and Servicemarks
A trademark is a word , name , symbol , or device that is used in trade with goods to indicate the source of the goods and to distinguish them from the goods of others . A servicemark is the same as a trademark except that it identifies and distinguishes the source of a service rather than a product . The terms “ trademark ” and “ mark ” are commonly used to refer to both trademarks and servicemarks . A trademark can be registered with the US Patent and Trademark Office by filing a trademark application , indicating your “ intent to use ” the mark in commerce .
Intellectual Property Rights ( Overseas )
Since the rights granted by a U . S . patent extend only throughout the territory of the United States and have no effect in a foreign country , an inventor who wishes patent protection in other countries must apply for a patent in each of the other countries or in regional patent offices . Almost every country has its own patent law , and a person desiring a patent in a particular country must make an application for patent in that country , in accordance with the requirements of that country . Similarly , local laws apply to trademark , copyrights , and other forms of intellectual property in each jurisdiction .
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