Often, entrepreneurs and the general public alike confuse the terms “trademark”, “copyright” and “patent”.

Though all have completely different meanings, people tend to use them interchangeably because unfortunately, there’s just not enough education on this area of law – Intellectual Property – compared to other areas of law.

But if you’re here reading this post, you’ll soon learn the difference between these terms and why seeking each form of protection matters for your business!

If you prefer to watch a fun, animated video explanation of this post, please check out our video below! Otherwise, continue reading…

Before we get started, if you prefer to watch a fun, animated video explanation of this post, please check out our video below! Otherwise, continue reading…

What’s a trademark?

A trademark is arguably one of your business’ most valuable assets. To put it simply, a trademark is a source-identifier.

💎 A trademark, or mark, refers to words, phrases, symbols, etc. by a manufacturer/merchant that identifies its goods and distinguishes those goods from those made or sold by another.

Trademark law protects what I like to call “branding elements”, like your brand name, logo, monograms, slogans, tag lines, colors like Christian Louboutin’s red sole, stripes like Adidas’ 3 stripes or Gucci’s red-green-red & red-blue-red stripes, sounds, scents, product shapes, product packaging, and other source-identifying marks! Essentially, trademarks help identify the origin of an article or service to which it is affixed. Trademarks mark the owner!

And the underlying purpose of trademark law is to protect both brands and consumers. It’s thanks to trademark law that (1) consumers know which goods belong to which company, and (2) brands know that their hard work, labor, and monetary investment hasn’t been in vain. Because a trademark is for the owner’s exclusive use, it ensures that an owner’s brand and reputation isn’t tarnished by a copycat selling knockoff products/services or products/services of lesser quality.

In the United States, simply using and conducting business activity with your mark can create a “common law trademark“, affording you some rights in a limited geographic area. However, for the greatest protection possible, business owners should register their mark with the USPTO to obtain a “federal trademark“, granting you exclusive use to your mark all across the country.

Where trademark law can get a bit confusing is when two different companies use the same mark, like Dove soap vs Dove chocolate. Or Delta Airlines vs Delta Faucets, Domino Sugar and Domino’s Pizza, Canon EOS (Canon cameras’ operating system) and eos Lip Balm, and Morningstar (investment research company) and Morningstar Farms (vegetarian food company).

And that’s because of this simple equation: trademark = mark + industry

We’ll explain this equation and what it means in our next post! So for now, we’ll leave you with this last bit of information…

💡 Length of Duration: Trademarks last INDEFINITELY as long as you continue to use the mark in your business. A trademark is the only form of IP that lasts forever! Another reason why it’s every business’ most valuable asset.

Pop Quiz: Is Your Brand Name Trademark Ready?

What’s a copyright?

Copyright law is concerned with the protection of expressions, not ideas. And that may seem confusing at first – expressions vs ideas. But we’ll elaborate.

💎 Copyrights protect original pictorial, graphic, sculptural, musical, literary, and audio-visual works of art “fixed in a tangible medium of expression”.

Simply put, this means that your idea is not eligible for copyright protection if it exists solely in your mind! You have to bring that idea to life! You have to put pen to paper quite literally. If you’re working on a song, even recording it into your phone’s voice notes app, for example, counts as existence.

And sidenote: “original” here just means that the work is “original” to you, i.e. created by you.

Expression = original idea + fixed medium

Copyrights protect expressions!

And just so that you don’t confuse copyrights with trademarks any longer, the easy way to remember the difference is right there in the C’s – Copyrights are for Content. 

So take an ordinary book, for example. Copyright does not protect the mechanical or “useful” aspect of works of craftsmanship. So you can’t copyright the physicality of the book BUT you can protect the content within the book – the words and ideas expressed on those pages! And you can even protect the cover art of the book as a painting/drawing under copyright law.

Some more examples of copyright-eligible works include sculptures, music, movies, fonts, even courses – for all you business coaches out there – anything content-based is eligible for copyright protection!

Similar to trademark law, you do have an unregistered copyright in your work from the moment it is fixed/exists. However, a registered copyright with the United States Copyright Office grants you more advantages than an unregistered copyright! An unregistered copyright still entitles you to reproduce, sell, and perform your copyrighted work. However, you cannot sue for copyright infringement without first registering your copyright!

💡 Length of Duration: Copyrights last the length of an individual’s life + 70 years after death. And they last even longer if owned by a corporation. Check our duration chart below.

What’s a patent?

Patents are divided into three different types – utility, design, and plant patents for new species of plants. We’ll focus our discussion on utility and design patents.

In simplest terms, patents protect new inventions and grant owners “the right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, or selling” the invention in the United States or “importing” the invention into the United States.

Utility patents protect new, useful, and nonobvious processes, machines, manufacture or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvements. It’s what most people commonly mean when discussing electrical, chemical, or mechanical inventions.

Some creative utility patents can include biological inventions, new chemical formulas, processes, or procedures, computer hardware & peripherals, computer software, cosmetics, electronic circuits, food inventions, housewares, industrial machines.

Most utility patent applications are notoriously denied for novelty and nonobvious-ness compared to design patent applications.

Design patents, on the other hand, protect new and nonobvious ornamental designs for non-functional features or aspects of manufactured products.

And if you’ve been keeping up so far, now you’re probably asking yourself: “What’s the difference between a design patent and a copyright then if they both protect designs/ornamentality?”

Great question! Design patents and copyrights share a similar purpose, however, there are key differences! The table below should explain these differences.

As you can imagine, many business owners will never apply for patent registration in their lifetime. Not only is patent registration EXPENSIVE, but it’s really a special type of IP reserved for the most unique inventions, which most business owners are not engaged in the process of inventing. However, if you’re interested in learning more about patents in particular, please check out this video: How To Patent My Designs

💡 Length of Duration: Utility patents last for 20 years from the date of filing. Design patents last 15 years from the date of issue.

*JNJ Legal does not currently offer patent protection services, however, we would be happy to refer you to Firms that can help!

Conclusion

So now, we hope you fully understand the difference between trademarks, copyrights, and patents and how they protect different aspects of your business and art. As a reminder, you can watch a video version of this post here: Trademarks, Copyrights, and Patents Explained And if you have any questions for us, leave us a comment!

Moreover, you should ask yourself: “do I have a business name or logo in need of trademark registration?” Or “do I have a course or artwork that I don’t want anyone else to steal from me?” If so, contact us! If you require help with legally protecting your business and art, JNJ Legal would be happy to help! Fill out our form to get started!

And so that you always remember the differences between these types of Intellectual Property, save or Pin the following table for easy referencing!