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Hi! there one of the trademarks information here in today’s blog is that we are going to discuss very important terms which are useful in 3 different types of intellectual property rights: Trademarks, Patents & Copyrights. Along with that, we will be discussing Domain name and Business name.
These 3 typically protect different aspects of something like your business may do. So it’s important that you understand how they are different especially if you want to secure or protect free intellectual property assets.
We will also discuss domain names and Business Names and how they are different from trademarks.
By the end, you will come to know exactly what to say when you overview.
When someone says Patent that trademark on their company, copyrights or copyright that Patent on it trademark ready! Let’s get started!
The first thing is we need to do is to define trademark –
Trademark is actually a word, phrase, slogan, symbol, or design or combination thereof that identifies the source of the goods and services of one owner and distinguishes them from the goods and services of another owner i.e. a trademark lets consumer know that the goods or products come only from you and not from someone else.
Essentially think about it this way. A trademark is a brand it distinguishes your goods and services from those of your competitors. It helps consumers to decide what’s required when I am choosing related products. Say I am choosing a Home appliances brand known for products and services and distinguishes them from the other home appliances brand.
People often ask a difference between a trademark and a service mark. There is a difference.
A trademark identifies the source of goods like various appliances and their related services identifies the source of services like customer service, accounting.
Although trademarks are legally different from service mark. It’s ok to informally refer to service marks as the trademarks.
Throughout this article, we will use the terms trademark and mark to refer to trademarks and service marks. So now that we know what are trademarks is how is it different from a Patent or copyright? It’s generally breaking down in this way.
A trademark is a brand used on goods and services. A Patent typically protects inventions like new engines and solar panels.
Copyright typically protects original artistic and literary works like the song, movies, and books.
Although trademarks, Patents, and Copyright can all be used together to the protection they provide or not are the same for ex:- If you invent a new type of the machine you might apply for a patent to protect the invention. You could apply to register a trademark to protect the brand name in for the machine and you might register a copyright for the TV commercial which is used for marketing the product.
Those are 3 different types of protections for 3 separate types of protection of intellectual properties. Brands, inventions they are all equally important and protect different parts of your intellectual property, now what about domain names and service names.
How do those differ from trademarks? That’s a great question. As people often confused about it.
Let’s clear up the differences right now. Now starting with domain names – as discussed earlier a trademark is typically a brand or slogan or design that identifies this course of goods and services.
A Domain Name is the web address that identifies a website. Hostripples.com for ex. Is the domain name for a web hosting company.
Registering a trademark is different than registering a domain name. Trademarks are federally registered through the USPTO.
Domain names are registered through a domain name registrar. They are not the same thing.
One identifies the source of goods and services the other is a web address. Registration of a domain name with a domain name registrar does not give you trademark rights. In fact, if you register that includes the trademarks of another party, you may have to surrender that domain name.
But hang on, you might be thinking what about those companies with .com in their names? Are those both trademarks and domain names. You are correct, some times they are a domain name can also function as a trademark.
So long as a domain name used in such a way that it also identifies this source of particular goods and services.
Let’s use Hostripples.com as an example. First, we know what functions as a domain name or web address and second, let’s say Hostripples.com is also an online web hosting company.
If Hostripples.com is used as a brand for retail services that could be considered trademark used.
See the difference. The first use is as a web address the second use as a trademark. There is also a difference between business names and trademarks.
A business name is just simply a name under which you do business; in a particular state/ country. However, a business name will do registration with your state does not grant you trademark rights.
It means a particular state allows you to do business under that name. Can a business name be also a trademark? Sure! Much like a domain name, it all depends on how you use it. So if you use your business name to identify the source of your goods and services and distinguish them from the goods and services of another party that’s trademarks to enjoy the nationwide rights offered by Federal Trademarks registration. You must file a trademark application and receive a registration from the USPTO.
Individual states also offer you registered trademarks but any protection granted is limited to that state. To avoid confusion make sure you have stats.
Trademarks are brands.
Patents protect inventions. Copyrights protect original artistic work, Domain names are web addresses and Business names are entity names under which you do businesses.
They may be related and some times but they are all different legal concepts and all handled by different organizations.
Patents and trademarks for ex: are handled by the USPTO. Copyrights are handled by the US Copyrights Office part of the library of congress. Domain names are handled by private companies who are called Domain name registrars and business names are handled by the local secretary of state.
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