Protect Your Ideas With Copyrights and Patents
by Tim Knox
Published on this site: February 3rd, 2006 - See
more articles from this month
Question: Can you tell me the difference between a
copyright and a patent? Also is that something I should let
a lawyer handle for me?
Answer: A wise man once said, "The biggest difference
between a copyright and a patent is the number of lawyers
it takes to do the paperwork." There is a point to be
made there, mainly that if this wise man had paid his attorney
to copyright that tidbit of wisdom I probably would have had
to pay him five bucks to use the quote.
Copyrights, trademarks and patents are similar in that they
are designed by law to protect your rights of ownership, but
that's where the similarity ends. A copyright protects a creative
work; a trademark protects a brand or company identity; and
a patent protects an invention or process.
A copyright protects the rights of anyone who creates an
"original work of authorship." A copyright owner
has the exclusive right to reproduce the work; prepare spin-off
works based on the copyrighted work; and to sell, perform
and/or display the copyrighted work in public.
Copyright protection is afforded to eight categories of creative
works: literary works (the written word); musical works (lyrics,
music, melodies); dramatic works (plays, scripts, screenplays);
artistic works (pictorial and sculptural), sound recordings
(LPs, CDs, audio tapes); choreographic works (dance, pantomime);
audiovisual works; and architectural works (blueprints, designs,
renderings).
An original work is automatically copyrighted the moment
it is put into a fixed format such as a paper copy or recording.
In other words, once you put your original story in writing
or make a recording of an original song, your copyright is
automatically secured. From that moment on your work has copyright
protection for your lifetime, plus 50 years after your death.
Registering a work with the U.S. Copyright Office is not
required, but since it is relatively simple and inexpensive
to do so, I advise that you register a copyright for each
work you wish to protect. Also, your copyright must be registered
in order to take legal action against someone who might infringe
on the copyright in the future.
You can register a copyright without the assistance of an
attorney. Simply visit the U.S. Copyright office website at
http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright/ and download the appropriate
form. Complete the form and send it in with a $30 nonrefundable
filing fee. This must be done for each individual work you
wish to protect.
A patent is a form of protection granted to an inventor that
protects his invention in the United States for up to 20 years
from the date of application. Patent law states that, "whoever
invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine,
manufacture, composition of matter, or any new and useful
improvements thereof may obtain a patent." Owning a patent
gives you the legal right to stop someone else from making,
using or selling your invention (or one that's very close
to it) without your permission. However, proving that someone
is infringing on your patent is often difficult and usually
requires a trial to settle the dispute.
Since the first U.S. patent was awarded in 1790, more than
five million patents have been awarded. The patent office
receives more than 230,000 patent applications every year
and I can tell you from personal experience that a turtle
on Prozac moves faster than the patent process. Patents can
take several years, truckloads of paperwork, and considerable legal fees to obtain.
The cost of obtaining a patent can run from $500 for a simple
design patent to $50,000 and more for a complex utility patent.
However, if your company has a truly patentable idea, you
would be wise to invest the time and money required to secure
your rights. A good patent can be a valuable business asset.
While you can file a patent yourself, I strongly advise that
you use an attorney since a naively written patent application
often isn't worth the paper it's printed on. Just recently
my attorney did a patent search for me only to discover that
a patent for a similar product was already in place. However,
due to the ineffectual language of the patent application,
the patent was practically impossible for the owner to enforce.
Good news for me. Not so good news for the wise man who wrote
his own patent.
Here's to your success!
Tim Knox Entrepreneur, Author, Speaker
http://www.prosperityandprofit.com
http://www.dropshipwholesale.net
http://www.smallbusinessqa.com
http://www.timknox.com
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