To TM, © or Patent?
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- OSFA
Let's say someone comes up with a good idea for a product that could help many people, but there is no money to produce it or make it happen. What's the best route in order to protect it? ©it, TM it or patent it? What's the difference between these and are the worth it?
Also, how can someone file for any of these here in teh US? Thanks guys.
- 5timuli0
Is it a 'Jump To Conclusions' mat?
- doesnotexist0
legalzoom.com I hear is easy.
patents are expensive, that's all I got.
- Mr1000
Let’s see if I can get this right.
Copyright is for literary/musical works and is automatic.
TradeMark is for logos/names/slogans/colours(?)
Patent is for a technical working of a physical thing – you can’t patent an idea, as such, but you can patent a solar-powered mouse-trap, for example.- no its not that simple, copyright and trademark law, patent law and design registration can all apply to design work.ribit
- airey0
trademark can be used whenever and signifys that it is a mark of trade. this basically says 'this is mine' but has no legal strengtht behind it. you can argue the point if somebody uses a similar mark and IP should help you out.
copyright is on anything and everything and you should be covered by IP. maybe.
the trademark and copyright can be beaten by bigger lawyers basically. if they have more cash than you you'll probably lose.
registered symbol is something you pay for and means that you should be covered for rip-offs but now if you register anything you have to designate which field it is for (ie: manufacturing, music, arts, etc etc). can get expensive but is the best method.
patents are necessary. if you don't patent an idea or concept your leaving it open to be taken / made / create and patented by anyone and it'll no longer be yours. fairly sure you can't register an idea, but could be wrong.
contact a patent lawyer / agent and get some advice. it'll be different in every country and if you can't pony up the cash to keep the idea then either you don't genuinely believe the idea / concept is worthwhile or you simply don't deserve to hold on to it. basically put the money where the mouth is.
and good luck!
- smart-arseMr100
- or completely wrong / made up. could be any one of these!airey
- I went with option 2 for mine.Mr100
- yeah, it's based on a few convos i had with an IP solicitor with phillips fox a while back.airey
- thanks airey! that was helpfulOSFA
- trademark does have legal strength behind it. But there are two kinds of trademark... unregistered, and registered.ribit
- theres a lot of misconceptions on this stuff... You often don't need to do anything, or use any symbol to have rights in law.ribit
- it really helps to read up on the difference between copyright, trademark, trade dress, design registration, and patents...ribit
- if it's a Registered Trademark you use the R symbol and possible the R and the TM together but you don't often see that.airey
- An unregistered trademark can have the same rights as a registered trademark.. its just more work to prove your case...ribit
- TM = trademark (symbol can be used on any trademark)
® = registered trademark (may only be used on a reg'd trademark)ribit - ...trademark.ribit
- ninjasavant0
if its a process or product then patent it.