Trademarks, Patents, Designs & Copyright

June 24, 2009
Intellectual Property News and Interesting Facts

While trademark law seeks to protect indications of the commercial source of products or services, patent law generally seeks to protect new and useful inventions, and registered designs law generally seeks to protect the look or appearance of a manufactured article.

Trademarks, patents and designs collectively form a subset of intellectual property known as industrial property because they are often created and used in an industrial or commercial context.

By comparison, copyright law generally seeks to protect original literary, artistic and other creative works. A trademark also does not expire (if it is re-registered), whereas international copyright law (which varies from country to country) usually lasts the duration of the author’s lifespan plus 50 years.

This can lead to confusion in cases where a work passes into the public domain but the character in question remains a registered trademark.

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