25 Differences Between Patent, Copyright, and Trademark

1. A patent is for new inventions or discoveries, they have to be novel, non-obvious, and useful.
2. Patent rights grant the inventor exclusive right to make, use, sell, and distribute their invention for a limited time.
3. A trademark protects indicators of source or brand identifiers. It covers words, phrases, symbols, logos or designs that distinguish one business’s products or services in the marketplace from another.
4. The rights that a trademark owner has is to prevent others from using a similar mark that would be likely to confuse consumers.
5. A copyright protects original works of authorship: literature, music, art, films, software, and architectural designs are all things that are commonly protected under copyright.
6. A copyright owner has the right to reproduce, distribute, perform, display, or create derivatives of their work.
7. Patents are registered at the USPTO Patent Division.
8. Trademarks are registered at the USPTO Trademark Division
9. Copyrights are registered at the Library of Congress.
10. The patent application and registration process takes generally 1-3 years.
11. The trademark application and registration process takes generally 12-18 months.
12. The copyright application and registration process takes between a few weeks to a few months.
13. A registration for patents lasts 20 years from the filing date.
14. For trademarks, registration can last indefinitely as long as the trademark is still in use and properly maintained.
15. A copyright for anything created after January 1st, 1978 lasts for the life of the author plus 70 years, or if it’s owned by a corporation or an anonymous work. The rights last for 95 years from publication or 120 years from creation, whichever is shorter.
16. The costs for a patent application are generally several hundred dollars in filing fees.
17. For a trademark application, the cost is generally $350 per class of goods or services in the application.
18. For a copyright application, the cost is generally about $50.
19. For a patent, there are no common law rights if it is unregistered.
20. For a trademark, there are common law rights if it’s not registered, but they have some important limitations.
21. For copyright there are some rights if the work is not registered, but there are significant limitations in how much damages can be collected for violations.
22. Registered patents must be marked with the word patent, and the number of the registration. And while an application is pending, the owner can use patent pending wording
23. For registered trademarks., the owner can use the ®, but it is not required.
24. The owner of a pending trademark application or of common law rights can use the TM or SM symbol at any time to indicate that they are seeking some rights in the mark.
25. For copyright, proper notice is very important and looks like the © with the year of publication and the name of the owner.

It’s valuable to know about the differences, and if you have intellectual property worthy of protecting—whether it’s a patent, a trademark, or a copyright—seek out expert advice from an attorney who can help give you advice for your specific situation and tell you about the rights, the registration, and other details related to it.