For many businesses, protecting intellectual property can be a very important part of maintaining a competitive advantage or position in the marketplace. There are multiple types of intellectual property protections and understanding the purpose for each and the type of protections or rights they grant to a person or a business is important before seeking one.
As explained by the World Intellectual Property Organization, patents, copyrights and trademarks each offer different things to the creators of things. Patents and trademarks in their own way each offer a level of exclusivity to the patent or trademark holder. A patent may allow an individual or a company to be the only one to produce a certain product or use a certain process for the period of the patent, which generally lasts for 20 years. Upon applying for a patent, however, the details of the product or process are made public.
A trademark gives a person or a company the exclusive rights to use or to license the use of some form of identifier such as a name or logo. The trademarked item in some way identifies a good or service or even a company and differentiates it from the competition. A copyright gives the holder the rights to their original work whether it be visual arts, music, written works or more.
If you would like to learn more about the types of protections or rights granted by patents, copyrights and trademarks, please feel free to visit the intellectual property page of our Ohio business litigation website.
