What Is a trademark and how is it different than a copyright or a patent? I'm Angela Langlotz, trademark attorney. I go live here to discuss trademark and copyright issues.
So this is a question that I get a lot. What's the difference between a trademark, a patent, and a copyright? They all protect intellectual property that is intangibles, things that we cannot see or taste or smell, but they protect certain aspects of our intellectual property.
You can think of a trademark as protecting a brand identity. That is the connection between a certain good or service and a symbol or word or phrase that's used in conjunction with the sale of that good or service. That is a trademark.
A copyright protects creative works, things like poetry, music, choreography, architectural plans, anything that's creative and is reduced to a tangible medium of expression that is copyright.
Now, patents are for useful inventions that are new and non obvious. So if you've got something that's useful and you want to protect the idea for that thing, and it can be a physical thing like some gadget, or it can be something not physical like a business method such as Amazon's one click ordering.
I think that's probably still protected by a patent, but not for much longer because patents only last for 20 years. So those are the main differences between patents and copyrights and trademarks. Patents are for useful inventions, copyrights are for works of artistic creative expression, and trademarks are for protecting brands. If you have trademark or copyright law questions, drop them into the comments below. I'll answer them on a future live video. Find me online at trademarkdoctor.Net. Trademark Doctor offers comprehensive wellness care for your very important brands.
Book a consultation with attorney Angela Langlotz to discuss a trademark issue. Talk with her for 15 minutes and discover if a trademark is right for you. https://bookme.name/langlotz/website
