Intellectual Property Basics

I find that many clients can benefit from an explanation of the fundamental differences between the main types of intellectual property. There are four main types that come up regularly in my practice:  copyrights, trademarks, patents and trade secrets. Here’s a very basic description of each type:

• Copyrights – provide ownership rights to original works of authorship; note that copyright protection covers the specific expression of ideas, but does not afford any protection to the ideas themselves.
• Trademarks - provide ownership rights to names, logos and taglines associated with specific products or services (technically, such rights with respect to services are called servicemarks, but the protection is roughly the same).
• Patents – provide exclusive exploitation rights to new inventions (e.g., technologies, business processes); note that the inventor must disclose the invention in detail in order to obtain patent protection, but is then given exclusive exploitation rights for a finite period of time.
• Trade Secrets - provide indefinite protection for inventions about which the inventor takes strict measures to protect secrecy. Read more