Patents, trademarks and copyrights originate from the same fundamental idea and legal necessity. These are forms of intellectual property that secure the rights of inventors and creators. However, there are various key points of differences among the three.
The fundamental difference is that the patents safeguard rights over a tangible or conceptual invention, while the copyrights protect documents or images brought into existence by the author. A trademark, on the contrary, can be a word or a logo that can distinguish products of one firm from the others.
The next essential thing that distinguishes patents from others is the high standard of protection provided by it on account of strict liability principles. This implies that any infringement of the patent, whether deliberate or not, would result in prosecution of the person infringing it. Hence, patents provide a lot more protection than other forms of IPRs without any scope for exceptions like fair use and other such provisions.
The usual period for a patent validity is 20 years, which is followed by termination of the exclusive ownership rights of the owner. On the other hand, copyrights are usually valid longer, for about 60-70 years from development and trademarks are valid for even longer periods. Further, patents can protect your intellectual property interests in a very comprehensive manner. Patents safeguard not only the expression of ideas like copyrights do but they also safeguard the principles and techniques applied in a particular invention.
Lastly, since there are different levels of protection provided for by these three IPR mechanisms, the process for applying for them is also very different from each other. For example, the application for a patent needs intricate explanation of the invention, which is not required in case of copyrights or trademarks. But, a copyright usually requires a copy of the original work, while a trademark requires a thorough search for existing marks in the market that could lead to confusion.
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