Intellectual Property Basics for Businesses
Intellectual Property Basics
It is important to protect the intellectual property and proprietary aspects of any businesses’ goods and/or services. There are a variety of different ways to go about protecting your intellectual property, and it is important to determine what method will accomplish your goals effectively. It is therefore important to develop an understanding of the different intellectual property protection options. Depending on your company’s needs, you may want to consider either a patent, trademark, trade secret, or copyrights.
What is a Patent?
A patent is a property right. Upon successful application, a patent is granted by the federal government to an inventor. The purpose is “to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, or selling the invention throughout the United States or importing the invention into the United States.” This protection is given to an inventor for a limited time in exchange for the public disclosure of the invention when the patent is granted.
What is a Trademark?
A patent is very different from a trademark. A trademark is a word, phrase, symbol, or design (or a combination of these), that identifies and distinguishes the source of one’s goods from others. A “service mark” is like a trademark, but it identifies and distinguishes the source of a service instead of goods. Like a patent, a trademark is also granted by the government and entitles the holder of the mark to protect their marks from other competitors.
What is a Trade Secret?
When determining whether a patent is feasible for you, you should also take timing into consideration. For example, if your idea is for something that would be part of fast-moving industries, a patent might not be viable. Technology often moves faster than the patent application process, so it might be better to keep your idea a trade secret, i.e., information that companies keep secret to give them an advantage over their competitors. Protecting trade secrets often involves contractual protections and state unfair competition laws, among others.
What is a Copyright?
A copyright is a form of protection offered to authors of “original works of authorship,” such as music, books, and plays. Copyrights are available for published and unpublished works and are given copyright protection after the copyright is registered through the Federal Government.
Ezer Williamson Law provides a wide range of both transactional and litigation services to individuals and businesses. Contact us at (310) 277-7747 to see how we can help you with your business law needs.
