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particularly in a digital world where more modest levels of trade can still reach worldwide. If you are selling a product or service where your identity counts (e.g. you provide unique, greater quality or better service compared to your competitors), then you can benefit from trademark protection. Trademark prevents others from capitalizing on any goodwill and positive reputation you generate due to your hard work and superior product.

COPYRIGHT

Copyright protects original literary, dramatic, musical, artistic intellectual creations and is governed on the national level by the U.S. Copyright Office (USCO). While patents protect inventions and trademarks protect identities (and both involve the written word and artistic depictions to certain extents), copyright protects works where the primary nature of the original creation is the writing or artistic representation.

A copyright is available for both published and unpublished works and allows the author to exclude others from copying the work. It is important to remember that even if you purchase a copy of a protected work, such as a book, CD, or sculpture, you are still subject to copyright. The mere ownership of a copyrighted article does not give you the permission to copy it. Only the owner of the copyright can give such permission.

Like trademark, there is no requirement to apply with the USCO to benefit from copyright protection. Prior to publishing the creation, the author need to properly use the term "copyright" or the copyright symbol "" with the year of publication and the name of the person or entity reserving the rights. Still, there are distinct advantages to using the USPTO and USCO before publishing work to ensure that you fully benefit from intellectual property protections. Both agencies' websites provide a wealth of information to get you started.

Differentiating patents, trademarks and copyrights can be tricky if you don't know what types of creations each protects. Keeping in mind that patents protect inventions, trademarks protect identities, and copyrights protect authors will help you identify both those creations that are protected and those that should be.

Learn more about this author, Joseph Hazelbaker.
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