Copyright, Trademark, Patent, or License? Understanding the Differences

Copyrights, trademarks, patents, and licenses are each a different form of intellectual property (IP) rights protection recognized by U.S. law. The distinctions among them can be subtle and often the same product or service may involve more than one of these IP rights. How can you tell them apart when deciding how to protect your company’s assets ? Here’s how. Copyrights Copyright protects the rights of “authors” in their original creative works. Copyrightable works include artistic creations, like novels, paintings, films, and songs, but also business-related works like software code, website designs, architectural drawings, marketing reports, and product manuals. The author of a copyrighted work has the exclusive right to: Reproduce (print or copy), publish, perform, display, film and/or record the creative content. Create derivative works from the original work (for example, updates, revisions, summaries, translations, and adaptations). Copyright protection