The financial picture of a business isn’t measured solely by the amount of money it makes. Assets including intellectual property can boost a company’s net worth. Companies have the right to file suit against others who use their intellectual property without permission. Copyrights and trademarks help provide protection from illegal use.

Intellectual property includes works, processes, symbols and designs that were created or are owned by a company. This can include logos and slogans, and written documents or artistic works. To enforce the ownership and right to use intellectual property, the business owner must register it at the Patent and Trademark Office or the Copyright Office, depending on the type of property a business wants to protect.

Copyright and trademark are both types of intellectual property rights that help provide its creator rights over the use of her/his creation for a limited period of time. Businesspersons who are looking to register an intellectual property must know the differences between the two and then obtain the right registrations to protect it.  A  copywrite is a right given to the creators of literary, musical, dramatic and artistic works and the producers of cinematograph films and the sound recordings. A copyright doesn’t protect names or brands, slogans, short word combinations, short phrases, plots, methods or factual information. A copyright also doesn’t protect ideas or concepts. Hence, a copyright is mostly used to protect the creativity of people like writers, artists, dramatist, designers, musicians, architects and the producers of sound recordings, cinematograph films and the computer software.

A trademark is a word or a visual symbol being used by any business to help people distinguish its goods or services from that of the other similar goods or services which may be originating from a different business gets protected. A trademark application must be filed to register a trademark by the applicant with the relevant Trademark Registrar in the format that has been prescribed. Trademarks are generally used to protect the brand names, business names, slogans and much more.

Copyright

What’s protected – Original works of authorship, such as books, articles, songs, photographs, sculptures, choreography, sound recordings, motion pictures, and other works.

Requirements to be Protected – A work must be original, creative and fixed in a tangible medium.

Term of Protection- Author’s life plus 70 more years.

Rights Granted – Right to control the reproduction, making of derivative works, distribution and public performance and display of the copyrighted works

Trademark

What’s protected – Any word, phrase, symbol, and/or design that identifies and distinguishes the source of the goods of one party from those of others.

Requirements to be Protected – A mark must be distinctive (i.e., that is, it must be capable of identifying the source of a particular good)

Term of Protection – For as long as the mark is used in commerce

Rights Granted – Right to use the mark and to prevent others from using similar marks in a way that would cause a likelihood-of-confusion about the origin of the goods or services.

Aishwarya Says:

I have always been against Glorifying Over Work and therefore, in the year 2021, I have decided to launch this campaign “Balancing Life”and talk about this wrong practice, that we have been following since last few years. I will be talking to and interviewing around 1 lakh people in the coming 2021 and publish their interview regarding their opinion on glamourising Over Work.

If you are interested in participating in the same, do let me know.

Do follow me on Facebook, Twitter  Youtube and Instagram.

The copyright of this Article belongs exclusively to Ms. Aishwarya Sandeep. Reproduction of the same, without permission will amount to Copyright Infringement. Appropriate Legal Action under the Indian Laws will be taken.

If you would also like to contribute to my website, then do share your articles or poems at adv.aishwaryasandeep@gmail.com

We also have a Facebook Group Restarter Moms for Mothers or Women who would like to rejoin their careers post a career break or women who are enterpreneurs.

We are also running a series Inspirational Women from January 2021 to March 31,2021, featuring around 1000 stories about Indian Women, who changed the world. #choosetochallenge