eLawFacts

The terms copyright and trademark are two of the most frequently confused terms in the world of intellectual property. Basically copyright pertains to original works and who can reproduce Knowing the correction definition of each is key to a greater understanding of just how copyright and trademark laws work, so pay attention here. Also note the example of each to enhance the original definition.

Copyright - The owner of an original works right to reproduce and control how their intellectual property is distributed or sold. For an artist or author to get the copyright to something all they need to do is put it in a tangible form, however it is also possible to register the copyright officially for a small fee. The owner of a copyright retains the rights for the length of their natural life plus 70 years. For example, when an author writes a book they hold exclusive rights to reproduce the books content so that others may read it. Authors usually seek the assistance of a publisher for the resources to print the book, market and sell it to people. Copyright law prevents other companies from simply stealing the books content and printing it themselves for profit.

There is some wiggle room within copyright law under fair use laws. For example, fair use laws give the right to people that purchased the book to loan it to their friends or sell it to someone else, even though they do not have the full copyright to reproduce the works that the publisher and author have. How far fair use laws actually go and exactly what rights the give to the consumer is a hotly contested and still evolving legal issue.

Trademark - Phrase, word, logo that uniquely brands a company, product, service or organization. For example the company paypal owns the trademark of their company name which prevents other organizations or individuals from using the name “Pepsi” to try impersonate or scrape the goodwill associate with that name. You can obtain a trademark of a name phrase or logo informally, but larger organizations always spend the time and money to formally register their names in case of any lawsuits. A common misconception is that you cannot trademark dictionary words or phrases, this is false, just take a look at the “Tide” detergent. It is worth noting however that Tide only has rights to the name in it’s relation to laundry detergent, not in terms of tides in the context of oceans. Trademark law prevents so called cyber-squatters from registering the domain name of a popular company and then attempting to sell or impersonate that company for monetary gain.

Registering a trademark does not prevent from all use of that mark however. For instance other companies can still use trademarked terms to compare two products. Trademarks can also be used by other people besides their owners and be protected under freedom of speech laws for websites like paypalsucks.com as long as it is clear they are not associated with the real company and they are not doing so for monetary gain.

I hope you found this comparison informative, please comment if you have any questions.