The four types of intellectual property

Intellectual property

If you have a business or are thinking of starting a new one, you should familiarize yourself with what is known as intellectual property. Intellectual property is a phrase used to describe certain legal rights that people may have over “creations of the mind” such as works of art, writing, inventions, designs, ideas, music, or choreography. There are four main types of intellectual property: copyrights, patents, trade secrets, and trademarks.

Copyright

A copyright is a form of intellectual property that protects the original authors of both published and unpublished creations. Copyright of these works remains the sole property of the creator for a specified period of time under copyright law. After the time period has elapsed, these works are open to others for reproduction and republication.

Copyrights are registered through the United States Copyright Office. Copyrights filed after 1978 will last for the life of the author plus 70 years after the author’s death.

patents

Patents are legal property rights that apply to inventions (as opposed to works of any kind of art or literacy), and must be issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Patents generally apply to things such as processes, machines, manufacturing designs, biological discoveries, or “compositions of matter.”

Like copyrights, patents are available to inventors only for a certain period of time before they expire. Patents are generally valid for 20 years from the filing date of the patent application.

trade secrets

Trade secrets are practices, designs, formulas, processes, recipes, or ideas used by a company that allow it to gain influence in its industry. Trade secrets are generally kept hidden by their own means, rather than being protected through government policies such as patents or copyrights. An example of self-protection commonly used with trade secrets is keeping relevant information in a bank vault. Since trade secrets lack legal protection, once they are leaked to the general public, they are available for use by anyone.

Trademarks

Trademarks include any word, phrase, symbol, logo, design, or device that is used in association with a particular brand or good to distinguish it from other products in that industry. Trademarks are used for identification purposes and are legally protected once registered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.