Trademark, Copyright & Intellectual Property Law

Intellectual Property
Intellectual property refers to creations of the mind: inventions, literary and artistic works, and symbols, names, images, and designs used in commerce. Intellectual property is divided into two categories: Industrial property, which includes inventions (patents), trademarks, industrial designs, and geographic indications of source; and Copyright, which includes literary and artistic works such as works of fiction and non-fiction, poems, plays, films, music, lyrics, drawings, paintings, photographs and sculptures and architectural designs.

Trademarks
A trademark is a distinctive indicator used by a business organization to distinguish its products or services from those of other entities in the marketplace. The mark may be a name, a tagline, a logo (symbol), a word, phrase, design or any combination of these elements. Trademarks fall under the governance of intellectual property law and are indicated by the symbol ™.

Copyright Law
Copyright is a form of intellectual property in which the creator of a work of authorship has exclusive rights to copy, to be credited for, to determine who may use, adapt or perform the work, to determine who may use the work to earn money, and other related rights. A copyright essentially gives the author exclusive rights to reproduce and profit from his or her work of authorship. Copyright falls under the governance of intellectual property law and is indicated by the symbol ©.

Related articles:

Safeguarding a Business' Intellectual Property: Patents and Trade Secrets
for Small Businesses
(view article)

Missouri's Trade Secret Act
(view article)