Breaking down the main classes of intellectual property: trademark vs. copyright vs. patent

Trademarks, copyrights, and patents are all intellectual property classifications that give exclusive ownership of ideas and concepts to individuals or businesses. Patents usually refer to innovative products or processes, copyrights are centered around the right to reproduce content, and trademarks usually involve branding elements, like names, logos, and distinct product elements.

Trademarks protect the branding of a service or product, while patents protect the product or service itself

Trademark protections cover the branding of a service or product, like its logo, its smell, or even its shape. However, patent protections give inventors exclusive control over a new product—as long as those inventors disclose how the product works and how they made it.

Trademarks are a form of consumer protection

Trademarks help brands distinguish their products from competitors, but they also give consumers clarity around the product they are buying and where it comes from. Distinguishable names help prevent consumer confusion and maintain a consumer's ability to choose their preferred product and brand.

Scents, when they are truly unique and identifiable to a particular brand, can be trademarked.

Trade dress is a form of trademark that applies to the physical appearance of a product

Distinct visual characteristics of products, like the shape of a Coca-Cola bottle or the interior layout of an Apple store, can be protected. These characteristics are protected to help consumers quickly identify certain brands.

The international trademark framework is called the Madrid Protocol

Trademarks vary from country to country, but an agreement called the Madrid Protocol allows trademark protections across more than 100 participating countries. While the Madrid Protocol expands trademark access, it doesn't necessarily grant blanket protections across the participating countries, meaning each country is still in charge of its own trademark enforcement.

Learn what constitutes trademark infringement

Infringement is a trademark violation that threatens the owner's exclusive right to use a trademark. The general standard for proving any trademark infringement is the likelihood of causing confusion to a normal consumer.

Learn what different trademark symbols mean

In the US, brands can technically use a trademark without actually filing a trademark with the United States Patent and Trademark Office—which is where the ™ symbol comes from. However, brands that have officially filed trademarks can use the ® symbol in their branding.

The value of a trademark is just one element of brand valuation

Brand valuations give companies an idea of how valuable assets, like logos, are to the company and can help determine how much money branding departments should receive. Typically, brand valuations are a compilation of brand awareness metrics, like a consumer's willingness to pay, the value of a trademark, and the company's market position.

Taylor Swift owns more than 300 trademarks—a strategic way she protects her brand

Taylor Swift holds trademarks ranging from her album titles and song lyrics to the names of her cats. While the sheer amount of trademarks may seem excessive, it's one way Taylor Swift can protect the integrity of her brand and make sure everything that's branded as Taylor Swift actually comes from her.

'Dilution' is any use of a trademark that weakens its distinctiveness

Unlike trademark infringement that hinges on the likelihood of confusing customers, trademark dilution is an illegal practice that threatens the distinctiveness of a trademark. In the US, famous brands like Nike and Google have a right to protection from dilution.

Listen to the pros and cons of owning a trademark as a small business owner

For many small business owners, it can be hard to decide when the time is right to file a trademark. This trademark lawyer says the decision often comes down to a product's branding, the size of the business, and how established the company is.

The median trademark of public companies in the US is worth $22.5M

There are multiple approaches to evaluating the value of a trademark. Some strategies include analyzing the value of royalty payments a trademark produces and the cost of recreating the trademark or brand.

Patents arguably grant inventors monopolies for a short period of time

As a way to reward innovation, the government grants short-term monopolies on patented products. Patents block other companies from producing or selling that product, giving inventors the rights and opportunity to establish themselves in a market before other competitors enter.

Search the official trademark database

The official trademark registry is managed by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. The registry shows the trademark's status, the owner, and the trademark's serial number.

Explore a list of trademarked phrases

Trademarks can extend to phrases and slogans when the words become brand identifiers. Some phrases that have been trademarked are famed boxing announcer Michael Buffer's "Let's get ready to rumble!" and reality television star Paris Hilton's "That's hot."

Frisbee, Jet Ski, and Dumpster—explore a list of words you might not realize are trademarked

Many products that have become household names started out as first-of-a-kind items. As those products grew in popularity, the brand name became the default name for the product.

Non-use or lapsed filings can cause a trademark to expire

Going more than three consecutive years without using a trademark can be considered abandonment—which means the trademark falls into the public domain and someone else could potentially file for the trademark. Besides non-use, not maintaining the paperwork or paying the fees can result in a terminated trademark.

The original Mickey Mouse's copyright has expired, but Disney still owns the trademark

In 2024, "Steamboat Willie"—the 1928 Walt Disney animation with the first depiction of Mickey Mouse—entered the public domain. While anyone is free to build on the original characters and storyline of "Steamboat Willie," Disney still owns the trademark for Mickey Mouse, so any branding with the character's depiction that appears to be from Disney is off-limits.

'Genericide:' Learn how too much brand awareness can hurt a company's trademark

When a brand becomes so popular that consumers regularly call the product by the brand name like a noun or verb, that trademark becomes generic because consumers no longer associate a specific brand with a certain product. A generic product can hurt a company's right to trademark or even cause companies to lose it. (Some users may experience a paywall.)

Read about the time Apple tried to trademark an actual apple in Switzerland

In 2017, tech company Apple filed for the trademark to a black-and-white image of a Granny Smith apple in Switzerland—a request that was only partially granted. Apple wanted full control over the image, but many worried that granting the trademark would open up too many opportunities for the company to own the rights to the mere shape of an apple.

Graffiti exists in a legal gray area

"Street art" has become a major seller in the art world, yet many states still consider graffiti to be illegal vandalism. Copyright law complicates the situation further, offering protections for "original works of authorship fixed in a tangible medium of expression," even if they've been created illegally.

The term 'securities' refers to different types of investments, such as stocks or bonds.

Retail investors are individuals who trade stock for themselves

Institutional investors, on the other hand, are investing for someone else. There are big differences between the two, one being that institutional investors can be granted certain special treatment (like being able to purchase IPOs right away).

The difference between marketing and advertising: Advertising is technically a type of marketing

While the terms are often used interchangeably, technically speaking, marketing is any effort to promote a product or service. Advertising, on the other hand, is any paid effort to promote a product or service. Learn more about the difference in this article.

Read the Federal Trade Commission's legal definition of a monopoly

The Federal Trade Commission and the US Department of Justice (DOJ) Antitrust Division are the regulatory agencies responsible for overseeing antitrust laws. Before deeming any company a monopoly or acknowledging monopolistic power in a market, the FTC conducts thorough research into market competition, price, and even other competitors' business practices.

Breaking down the numbers on art theft trends

Cultural property theft has been on the rise in recent years, and the recovery rate of such artifacts is estimated to be below 10%. Explore dozens of other statistics here.

Tariffs are taxes levied on goods imported from abroad.

Trusts are estate planning tools

They’re used as a way to designate assets to beneficiaries while skirting certain taxes and maintaining one’s privacy. They can hold a wide range of assets, including cash, real estate, stocks, businesses, and more.

Fair use may shield AI companies from potential copyright violations

AI models are trained on enormous datasets built from content scraped from websites across the internet. Copyright law includes a four-factor test to determine whether copies of content fall under fair use, but the law's enforcement has been inconsistent.

Modern fan fiction exists in a legal gray area

Modern copyright law prohibits using someone's intellectual property (like a character) without their permission. By and large, fan fiction is tacitly condoned by copyright holders because it's commonly distributed for free. If anything, the copyright holders often benefit by allowing passionate fan communities to flourish.

Real estate is grouped into broad categories: residential, commercial and industrial

Other categories of real estate include raw land and “special use” real estate, which includes cemeteries. Technically speaking, real estate is considered an alternative investment.

Not all speech in the United States is protected

This page explains the categories of speech—including defamation, incitement, true threats, fraud, and obscenity—the Supreme Court has placed outside First Amendment protection and how courts determine which standard to apply when speech is challenged.

A rundown of some of the wildest new tech inventions around the world

The US Patent Office approves roughly 300,000 new patents every year. Among these are some fascinating tech inventions, from high-profile robots and automated bike garages to kaleidoscopic shelves and laser-projected directions for scooters. Check...

Capital assets include investments from stocks to fine jewelry

Capital assets can be classified as property owned and used for personal or investment reasons. If a capital asset grows in value and the holder decides to sell it, their “capital gains” would be roughly the difference between the original purchase price and the amount of money they sold the asset for.

NFTs create a unique digital signature to prove ownership

NFTs create digital certificates for unique online collectibles, mainly on the Ethereum blockchain. Artists can leverage NFTs to verify their online works.

Companies often use different share classes, like Class A or Class B, to structure ownership

Share classes refer to specific types of company stock that are distinguished by the rights they grant, such as voting power and dividend access.

The First Amendment protects 5 distinct freedoms

Most Americans cite the amendment on free speech, but the First Amendment also protects religion, the press, peaceful assembly, and the right to petition the government—five separate guarantees in a single sentence.