What is Intellectual Property, Anyway?

From Pie Shell:

“If you want to protect something, or to stop someone from doing the same thing that you’re doing in your entrepreneurial venture, the only way to do that in the United States (and abroad) is through IP law. An IP attorney will help you ensure that no one has made it before, branded it in a similar way to yours, or created it before you did.

In this blog, we’ll explore patents, branding, and copyright — all separate concepts under IP law.

Patents

If you make something that is both novel and non-obvious (in other words, sufficiently inventive) compared to what’s already in the marketplace, you can register your idea as an invention with the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

Branding

In the world of marketing, the term “brand” is pretty broad. But in IP, it’s defined as “a symbol, word, or words legally registered or established by use as representing a company or product.” This is called a trademark (TM).

Copyright

The last type of IP property is copyright, which protects any sort of creative work that is both original and in a fixed medium (i.e. written down, recorded etc.).”

Read more at Pie Shell