Darryl Rozelle Elaborates: The 4 Types of Intellectual Property

Intellectual property (IP) refers to any creations of the mind, such as inventions, literary and artistic works, designs, symbols, names, and images used in commerce. This intangible asset is protected by law to encourage innovation and creativity.

When a person or company comes up with a new idea, invention, or creative work, they may want to protect it from being copied or stolen. This is where intellectual property comes in. There are four types of intellectual property - copyrights, trademarks, patents, and trade secrets.

In general, intellectual property law is designed to give creators some control over how their work is used and protects their ability to profit from their creativity.

But why do businesses need to protect their intellectual property?

Intellectual property theft can cost businesses billions of dollars every year. When someone steals or copies a company's trade secrets, they steal valuable information that took time and money to develop. This can hurt the business financially and disrupt its operations.

Darryl Rozelle, a professional engineer from Chaska, Minnesota, shares this informative article so that everyone can benefit from a better understanding of what constitutes infringement.

Let's explore each one in more detail:

Copyrights

Copyright is a type of intellectual property that protects original works of authorship, such as books, music, movies, blog posts, software, paintings, and plays. It gives the creator of the work an exclusive right to reproduce, distribute, perform, and display the result. But non, creatives like title holders, distributors, and broadcasters can use copyrighted works without infringing copyright as long as they meet certain conditions.

For example, you can listen to a song on the radio or watch a movie on TV without infringing copyright because the broadcaster has a license to use the work. But you cannot make unauthorized copies of the song or movie and distribute them without infringing copyright.

Copyright protection begins when the work is created and lasts for a certain number of years, depending on the type of work. For example, copyrights for books, music, and movies last 70 years after the author's death.

Trademarks

A trademark is any word, phrase, symbol, or design, or a combination of words, phrases, logos, or designs, that identifies and distinguishes the source of the goods of one party from those of others.

There are over 180,000 trademarks registered in the United States, according to the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The best-known trademarks include major corporations such as Ford, Apple, and Coca-Cola.

It protects words, names, symbols, or designs that identify and distinguish the source of goods or services—giving the owner exclusive right to use it in connection with the products or services it represents.

A trademark does not mean you own a particular word or phrase. It just means that you have the exclusive right to use it in connection with your products or services.

There are three main types of trademarks:

1. Fanciful trademarks - Words or symbols made up and have no meaning other than as a trademark. The Nike swoosh is an example of this.

2. Arbitrary trademarks - Words or symbols with meaning but the association with the product or service is not logical. Take Apple as an example, there is no logical connection between Apple and computers.

3. Generic trademarks - Words common to the English language and cannot be used as trademarks; Aspirin and vacuum are both examples of generic trademarks.

Patents

Patents are the most common form of intellectual property in use today. They are a grant of exclusive rights by a government to an inventor to make, use, and sell their invention for a limited time in exchange for public disclosure of the invention.

In the United States, patents are granted by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office at the inventor's request. A patent gives the owner the right to prevent others from making, using, or selling the invention for a limited time.

The length of the patent term depends on the type of patent and when it was filed. The purpose is to provide an incentive for inventors to disclose their inventions to the public so that others can build on them and improve them.

Darryl Rozelle says, "Patent turns yesterday's secret into today's commodity and makes it available to all."

Trade Secrets

A trade secret is any confidential business information that provides a company with a competitive advantage in the marketplace.

A trade secret is a formula, practice, process, design, instrument, pattern, or compilation of information that is not generally known or reasonably ascertainable. A business can obtain an economic advantage over competitors and customers.

The precise language by which a trade secret is defined varies by jurisdiction but must be established by a showing sufficient to support a reasonable expectation that the information is not generally known.

They are confidential, proprietary information that gives a company an edge over its competitors - including formulas, processes, and designs that are not generally known to the public.

Darryl Rozelle brings up a great point about trade secrets: "A trade secret is a business asset," Rozelle says. "It's something that you keep close to the vest because if it gets out, there's a good chance your competition can take it and run with it."

A company can sue anyone who obtains the information through improper means and uses it to compete against them with a valid trade secret. Trade secret protection lasts as long as the information is kept confidential. But it isn't protected by law the way patents and trademarks are.

Final Thoughts

Setting up and protecting your intellectual property is important for doing business. And it's not just big businesses that need to worry about it. Startups and small businesses can also benefit from taking steps to protect their ideas, inventions, and brands. Darryl Rozelle of Chaska, Minnesota, has over a decade of experience in patents and intellectual property ends with these final thoughts: "Intellectual property is the lifeblood of any business. If you don't protect it, you're going to lose it."

This article does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors or management of EconoTimes