Patents
First off, I would NEVER suggest trying this one on your own. You need to find a qualified patent attorney to help you through the process.
There are two types of patents, utility and design. A utility patents are for processes, machines, products or improvements to any of these. Design patents cover the ornamental design of a product. For your invention to be patentable, it must be novel and a non-obvious invention.
The advantage of a patent is it doesn't have to be something that you've actually reduced to a physical form. The idea is enough. For example, you have an idea for how an existing product can be improved that is novel and non-obvious. You don't have to take the product and actually make the modification to get a patent.
Patents last for 20 years from the date of registration.
Copyright
A copyright protects any "original work of authorship" (inlcuding sound recordings, graphic work, etc.) that is either published in a "fixed form" or registered with the copyright office as an unpublished work. It's not necessary to have a lawyer to register at the Copyright Office for you (though sometimes it makes it easier for you) and, if you do it online, it costs $35.
You don't need to register your copyright to have it be valid. As soon as it's fixed in a tangible medium, it's copyrighted. But you should make sure that you post notice that your work is copyrighted by using the year, the (c) symbol and the name of the copyright holder. However, if you want to enforce the copyright, you need to file it with the Copyright Office.
Copyright lasts for the life of the creator plus 70 years.
The following cannot be copyrighted:
"Titles, names, short phrases, and slogans; familiar symbols or designs; mere variations of typographic ornamentation, lettering, or coloring; mere listings of ingredients or contents
Ideas, procedures, methods, systems, processes, concepts, principles, discoveries, or devices, as distinguished from a description, explanation, or illustration
Works consisting entirely of information that is common property and containing no original authorship (for example: standard calendars, height and weight charts, tape measures and rulers, and lists or tables taken from public documents or other common sources)." - US Copyright Office.
Trademark
A trademark is a "word, phrase, symbol or design, or a combination of words, phrases, symbols or designs, that identifies and distinguishes the source of the goods of one party from those of others." (USPTO). They also don't need to be registered in order to have rights, but do need to be registered in order to pursue an infringer in Federal Court.
You can use the TM or SM mark whether or not your mark is registered, but you can only use the (R) mark once registration has occurred.
There is no requirement that says that you have to register your mark with an attorney, but there are recent decisions by the TTAB (which I will probably discuss in my next blog post) that can cost you in a big way if your mark is registered incorrectly. I would recommend using an attorney who is familiar with the latest rulings in order to make sure you are well protected.
I hope that this helps in your quest to protect your intellectual property.
Visit us at www.ebusinesslawgroup.com anytime to discuss your intellectual property issues.
