How Are Patents Different From Copyrights And Trademarks?
Three crucial legal frameworks – copyrights, trademarks and patents – emerge from the same basic legal requirement. These are various kinds of intellectual property that help in securing of property rights of persons or companies. However, these three have certain marked differences.
One of the important differences is the fact that the patents basically protect the tangible or conceptual inventions, while copyrights protect literary, artistic or other such works. For trademarks, there is no need for something original or innovative and they can simply be a word or even a logo that separates a brand or firm from others.
Secondly, patents are the most effective forms of IPR, particularly because they are based on strict rules and regulations. In other words, irrespective of the fact that the infringer was or was not aware that he was violating the patent, he will be held responsible for the same. Therefore, patents provide higher safety than copyrights and trademarks that permit certain exceptions like fair use etc.
The usual period for the validity of a patent is 20 years, which is followed by termination of the exclusive ownership rights of the owner. On the other hand, copyrights are usually valid longer, for about 60-70 years from development and trademarks are valid for even longer periods. Moreover, patents are capable of protecting your interests in a much more exhaustive way. In other words, a copyright protects the mere expression of ideas, while patents can protect the underlying principles and techniques behind the invention as well.
Lastly, since these 3 kinds of IPR offer different levels of protection for different things, the procedure for submitting an application for them are also quite different. For instance, the application for a patent needs to have an appropriate disclosure of the product, whereas the one for copyright needs enclosing a replica of the original work itself, and the one for trademark simply needs a proper check for confusingly similar marks that already exist.
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