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Copyright
patent trademark attorney
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Copyright:
a set of exclusive rights regulating the use of a particular expression of
an idea or information. At its most general, it is literally "the right to
copy" an original creation. In most cases, these rights are of limited
duration. Copyright may subsist in a wide range of creative, intellectual,
or artistic forms or "works". These include poems, theses, plays, and other
literary works, movies, choreographic works (dances, ballets, etc.), musical
compositions, audio recordings, paintings, drawings, sculptures,
photographs, software, radio and television broadcasts of live and other
performances, and, in some jurisdictions, industrial designs. Copyright is
one of the laws covered by the umbrella term intellectual property.
Copyright law covers only the form or manner in which ideas or information
have been manifested, the "form of material expression". It is not designed
or intended to cover the actual idea, concepts, facts, styles, or techniques
which may be embodied in or represented by the copyright work.
Trademark: a distinctive sign or
indicator of some kind which is used by an individual, business organization
or other legal entity to uniquely identify the source of its products and/or
services to consumers, and to distinguish its products or services from
those of other entities. A trademark is a type of intellectual property, and
typically comprises a name, word, phrase, logo, symbol, design, image, or a
combination of these elements. There is also a range of non-conventional
trademarks comprising marks which do not fall into these standard
categories.
The owner of a registered trademark may commence legal proceedings for
trademark infringement to prevent unauthorized use of that trademark.
However, registration is not required. The owner of a common law trademark
may also file suit, but an unregistered mark may be protectable only within
the geographical area within which it has been used or in geographical areas
into which it may be reasonably expected to expand. When a trademark is used
in relation to services rather than products, it may sometimes be called a
service mark, particularly in the United States.
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