Example: Starbucks Coffee Sleeve has all three of the intellectual property protection on their coffee sleeve.
PATENTS covers tangible things -- items that have
utility ( a use)- like the coffee sleeve. This is intellectual
property and allows you to have an exclusive right to earn a living
from the item for a set amount of time. You cannot PATENT ideas.
Example: The glue in the coffee sleeve.
® = registered with the Patent Office
TRADEMARKS
- - Identify the source
of goods -- source identifiers. Allows you to distinguish between
items so you know where things are coming from. Quality control
for the person who owns the trademark. Allows you to expect that
you will be able to find the same item every where, and one item
will taste and be the same in your own town and across the country
and the world.
Example: The Starbucks' logo is the trademark.
™ = Trademark
COPYRIGHT
-- Started with books
and now covers literary works, musical works, dramatic works,
sound recordings, artwork, architectural works, motion pictures
and audiovisual. The copyright also extends to electronic media,
like websites. Only two requirements for copyright: (1) Must be
in a fixed tangible medium; (2) Must be an original work.
Example: The way the sleeve looks, the fill in sheet on the
sleeve itself, the website.
© = Copyright.