There is sometimes confusion on regardless of whether 1 has a copyright in a function, or no matter if they should really get a patent for protection.
In this article, you will finally come away with a clear understanding on the distinction between these two types of intellectual property.
The Rights Afforded by Copyright Protection:
Copyright protects the expression of literary and artistic work. When a person creates an original function, and have put it in a fixed form, they automatically own the copyright to that work. What this means is the person owns the rights to: reproduce the function, perform the function, record the function, broadcast the function, translate the work, and adapt the work into a unique form (i.e. a novel into a screenplay).
Copyright Protects Expressions, Not Ideas:
A widespread misunderstanding is that copyright protects suggestions. Copyright protects the expression of an notion, but not the idea itself. What this means is one hundred people can write an article about copyright. But, we every own the copyright to our particular articles simply because each 1 is an original and fixed piece of work.
The Concepts of Originality and Fixation in Copyright:
"Originality" and "fixed" are two vital terms in copyright. While the function does not have to be the first of its kind (i.e. this is not the very first article ever written about copyright), the expression has to be original (I'm not plagiarizing this write-up - I have written it myself with original sentence structures and an original flow to the write-up). As for being 'fixed' there is a really great reason for this requirement. For a work to fall under copyright law, it ought to be in a fixed form - due to the fact it would be rather complicated to prove what was developed if there was no copy of it! A "fixed" form could be something written on paper, recorded onto a CD, recorded on video, or saved on a flash drive.
What Copyright Protects:
Copyright covers a wide variety of artistic works and they are typically characterized as follows:
o Literary Work (novels, poems, computer software program source code)
o Artistic/Visual Arts (sculpture, drawing, illustration, graphic style, plans, maps, photographs, architectural work)
o Dramatic Function (films, videos, choreography), Musical (musical composition with or without words)
o Sound Recordings (recordings of music, drama, or lectures)
o Serial & Periodicals (periodicals, newspapers, magazines, bulletins, newsletters, annuals, journals, proceedings of societies)
Patents Safeguard Inventions:
Patents safeguard new inventions or valuable improvements to existing inventions. Examples are inventions or discoveries of any new and useful method, apparatus, machine, or composition of matter, or any new and valuable improvement thereof.
Patents Need to Be Obtained:
In contrast to copyright which is automatic, a patent must be granted by the government to be valid and can take up to 3 years with considerable financial investment. If you are going to file for a patent, it is fairly valuable you do not disclose your invention to any individual, given that it could be grounds to refuse your patent application.
For the reason that there is an application method for patents, a patent granted in one country is not valid in a different. As such, you will want to apply separately in every country, or by way of the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT).
Qualifications For Patents:
For an item/procedure to qualify for a patent, it need to commonly be:
o new
o useful
o inventive (in other words, it need to not be an obvious invention to someone in the field)
Durations of Patents:
When you successfully hold a patent, you have a limited time (frequently around 20 years) where you are the only one who can make this item or use the patented method just before it is created public.
Disclaimer
The above facts is meant as a general guide to further your copyright and patent information and does not constitute legal advice. For questions about your particular function, you ought to consult an intellectual property lawyer in your country.
