What is the difference between copyright, patent and trademark?
Copyright law, patent law and trademark law are independent legal doctrines, and are governed by separate federal statutes. However, some works may be protected under more than one doctrine. Generally speaking, copyright law protects original works of authorship that are fixed in a tangible form of expression, such as books, paintings, sculptures and films. Patent law protects novel and non-obvious inventions, such as machines, manufacturing processes and synthetic drugs. Trademark law protects brand names, such as Reebok® and Pepsi®. Copyright law protects the expression of a work, but not the underlying ideas. Thus, the copyright owner of a movie cannot prevent others from making movies with the same basic plot elements or themes unless so much material is copied from the original work that the works are substantially similar. Ideas, methods or processes contained in an expression, though not protected under copyright law, can sometimes be protected under patent law. This is often th
