What is the difference between patents, copyrights, trademarks, trade dress and trade secrets?
Patents are granted to inventors for new, useful and nonobvious inventions. A patent gives the inventor exclusive rights in the invention for a period of time, so that he can profit from the invention before the right to exploit it is available to the general public. Patents can be granted for plants, manufactured products, machines, processes and combinations of matter. A patent must be applied for from the federal government and will only be granted if the invention is unique. Copyrights are exclusive rights granted to authors, artists, composers and publishers to create and publish their works. The work must be original and must exist in some tangible form; it cannot exist only in the artist’s mind. A copyright arises automatically as soon as the work is made. However, registration affords owners of copyrighted materials additional benefits. Trademarks allow businesses to protect the symbolic information that relates to their goods and services by preventing similar use by competito
