Every time inventors have discovered something, the very first thing they do is patenting it. These patents are basically the way of government to give inventors “ownership” of their creation. For a given timeframe, patent-holders are permitted to have full control of their inventions. Through this, it gives them full benefit of reaping any financial rewards off of their work. The beauty about patents is that, these are palpable, innovative and legally binding manifestation of someone’s work. Thus, allowing that person to actually own that idea.

The 3 Different Forms of Intellectual Property Protection

This is the same reason why if you take a quick look at Dyson comparison chart, you will see products of different design, mechanisms and assembly. This is due to the reason that their parent company follows a patent that can’t be violated. Otherwise, the company is set to pay hefty fees.

In modern countries, there’s been a system established to provide protection towards:

  • Product of a company or person’s originality and creativity and;
  • Intellectual property

The strongest protection that an inventor or innovator can ever have is Copyright. These are intended to provide protection to original works of authorship that come in tangible form. Few examples for copyrights are:

  • Books
  • Movies
  • Paintings
  • Choreographed dances (if steps are in writing)
  • Architecture
  • Music

Basically, all forms of art fall under copyright. For a given period, these works can’t be reproduced or copied without getting permission from the copyright holder.

If you are after a narrower and more specific protection for your intellectual property, then your option is to go with Trademarks. These are used in protecting phrases and designs that businesses used in distinguishing their products from the rest of the pack. Apart from that, this includes trade secrets that are protecting proprietary information that should be kept secret for the continuous profit of the business.

Reserved for Serious Works

Patents on the other hand are most tightly regulated and most complex out of all other forms of protection for intellectual property. These are basically copyrights for inventions and are being defined by US patent law as any useful and new process, manufacture, machine or composition of matter or any useful and new improvement thereof. Compared to copyrights, patents are protecting the design or idea of an invention, than its tangible form.

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