Copyright vs. Trademark
You may have heard the terms “copyright” and “trademark” being thrown around, but do you know what they mean?
These two distinct concepts are often confused with one another. It’s important to understand the differences between the two to protect your intellectual property effectively.
In this blog post, we’ll explore the differences between copyright and trademark, and which one is best for your business.
Whether you’re a freelancer, entrepreneur, or small business owner, read on to learn about the importance of copyright and trademark protection.
What Is a Copyright?
A copyright is a legal way to protect original creative work, such as scripts, musical compositions, photographs, and paintings.
A copyright does not protect ideas; it only protects the particular expression of an idea in a tangible medium.
If you’ve created artwork that’s ready to be published, then those are expressions protected by copyright law. It’s important to note that once these works are fixed in tangible form—like printed books or songs—they are automatically protected by copyright law without any registration requirements.
Once someone creates something original and it’s in fixed form, they generally own full rights to its use. That means no one can copy your work without your permission.
What Is a Trademark?
A trademark is a symbol, phrase, or word that identifies the source of a product or service.
It’s like a brand name—or, in some cases, a logo or slogan. For example, the phrase “Finger lickin’ good,” and the Nike Swoosh logo.
Trademarks are designed to protect words, phrases, design elements (like logos), and even sounds and scents when they are associated with certain products or services.
This means that trademark owners have exclusive rights over their marks. They’re protected under copyright law and can’t be used without permission from the trademark holder.
A trademark is also different from copyright in that it doesn’t protect an idea or creative work. It only protects the mark itself.
This means that if someone copies your original work but uses a different term to identify it, you may not have any legal recourse unless you have trademarked your work.
It’s also worth noting that you can register both copyrights and trademarks for the same product or service if necessary.
However, there are limits as to how much of your work you can protect with each. Copyright protection prevents people from copying your work verbatim. On the other hand, trademark protection prevents others from using a similar name or mark to identify their own version of it.
Understanding the Difference Between Copyright and Trademark
What’s the difference between a copyright and trademark, you ask?
Copyrights are used to protect works of artistic expression from being copied or reproduced without permission from the author or creator.
Trademarks, on the other hand, are used to protect brand assets like logos and slogans.
Let’s say you’re a small business owner who creates an amazing logo for your company. You would use a trademark to make sure no one else can use that same logo. Doing this, you get exclusive rights over your brand. Plus, you can easily identify your product or service in the marketplace.
You may be thinking that copyrights and trademarks can both be used to protect creative works—and you’d be right!
However, it’s important to understand that copyright law primarily covers artistic works. Trademark laws primarily cover brand names and symbols — like logos and slogans.
While copyrights can provide protection for years — up to 70 years after the author passes away — they do come with their limits.
Copyrighting your work won’t offer protection against other artists who use similar elements in their own work; it just protects against exact copying or duplication of your work by someone else.
Using Copyright and Trademark Together
If you’re wondering, can you use copyright and trademark together? The answer is yes! Combining the two is often a great idea for businesses that produce tangible goods like clothing.
Here’s how it works: Copyright covers the creative expression that goes into a design, such as words, music, photos, and art. It protects the expression in the form of an “original work of authorship.”
Trademark protects words, phrases and symbols used to represent products and services.
For example, let’s say you create an original t-shirt design with a clever phrase. You can use copyright to protect the t-shirt design and its unique elements. Then you use the trademark to protect your brand name associated with your t-shirts.
This way, you have protected your original work and also prevent competitors from using your brand name or logo.
You can do this as long as you own both a copyright and trademark on the same product or design.
That said, there are limits on how much copyright protection applies to a given product so it’s important to understand these limitations.
Limitations of Copyright Usage
You may be wondering about the limitations of copyright.
In the world of creative works, copyrights protect only the expression of an idea and not the idea itself. This means that a copyright does not protect the concept, method, techniques or facts—only how those things are expressed in words and images.
When you create a novel, you can copyright that particular story and its dialog, but not the plot itself.
If another person has a similar story to yours with different words and characters, they can still create their version without infringing on your copyright.
Another thing to keep in mind is that copyrights do not provide any protection against unfair competition or dilution of business reputation.
A trademark solves this by providing exclusive rights over a name or logo related to a product or service to prevent other companies from stealing your customers and reputation by creating confusion over similarities between products or services.
So while copyrights can be used alongside trademarks to protect certain aspects of your product or service, it’s important to remember their respective limitations and that trademarks are typically more effective for protecting your business’s reputation.
Resources Available to Protect Your Copyrights and Trademarks
When it comes to protecting your copyrights and trademarks, you have a few options. Here are some resources you can use to ensure your original works, products, and designs are protected.
Copyright Registration
This is the process of filing your original works with the U.S. Copyright office.
By filing for copyright registration, you create an official record that you created the work and receive certain benefits if someone uses it without permission. You also get added legal protection if you ever need to sue someone for infringement or misuse of your work.
Note that even though you don’t need to register for copyright protection, as we discussed earlier, it can be helpful to do so in the event of legal action later on down the road.
Trademark Registration
Trademark registration is a bit different from copyright registration in that it’s not required by law to protect a trademark.
Registering with the USPTO gives you added protection. It also allows others to easily search whether your mark is registered or not. It gives you exclusive rights to use the trademark in connection with certain goods or services in various countries depending on where it is registered.
International Protection
If your business operates in multiple countries, then keeping track of local IP regulations can be tricky—but protective measures like patents and copyrights are legally enforceable globally when registered with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).
This is especially important if you feel like some else has infringed on any intellectual property that belongs to your company—you want to be sure they don’t do this elsewhere too!
As always, consulting a lawyer is highly recommended before taking any action related to protecting original works or trademarks.
Conclusion
To wrap it up, copyrights and trademarks are both important tools for protecting your brand and your business.
Copyright gives you the exclusive right to reproduce your work. Trademarks stop others from using your name, logo, and other identifying features of your brand.
However, it’s important to note that copyrights don’t cover slogans or logos, so you should consider registering a trademark if you want to protect those aspects of your brand.
Both copyrights and trademarks can be used together if you wish to protect your work, but it’s important to remember the limits of a copyright and that certain aspects of your brand may not be covered.
Being sure that your brand and your business are properly protected is always best.