Patents, Trademarks, and Copyright
While it's easy to confuse patents, copyright, and trademarks, each serves a different purpose and provides different protections.
Patents
Patents are related to inventions. Someone who holds a patent has the exclusive rights to make, use, or sell something--a product, a process, a design, or even a plant. These rights last for 20 years from date of filing. The first United States patent was granted in 1790. The Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) in the Department of Commerce grants patents and trademarks.
How to Find Patents
- United States Patent and Trademark Office
- The PTO provides a searchable database for all patents issued since 1790. In order to view the patents, you must download a free TIFF viewer.
- Official Gazette of the Patent and Trademark Office
- Each issue lists the patents issued during the previous week. Issues for the most recent year are maintained online.
Trademarks
Trademarks are words, symbols, or slogans that identify items and goods. Trademarks can be renewed indefinitely; the first trademark protection was enacted in 1905. As with patents, trademarks are issued by the Patents and Trademark Office in the Department of Commerce.
How to Find Trademarks
- United States Patent and Trademark Office
- The PTO provides a searchable database of pending, issued, and dead federal trademarks.
- Official Gazette of the Patent and Trademark Office--Trademarks
- Each weekly issue lists trademarks with illustrations. Also includes an idex of registrants (the company, organization, or person who owns the trademark).
Copyright
Unlike patents and trademarks, copyright is registered by the Register of Copyrights within the Library of Congress. Copyright is intended to protect literary or creative works. For works published since 1976, copyright protects the work for the life of the author plus 50 years. Before 1976, copyright lasted 75 years.
Searching for the Copyright Status of a Work
- How to Investigate the Copyright Status of a Work
- A guide from the Library of Congress. Also available in PDF:http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ22.pdf
- Search the Library of Congress
- Several databases are freely available from the Library of Congress site to search for copyright status. Be aware that the databases can be slow and difficult to use.
Foreign Patents, Trademarks, and Copyright
- The World Intellectual Property Organization
- An agency within the United Nations set up to develop an international intellectual property system. It maintains links to the intellectual property offices of its member nations: http://www.wipo.int/members/en/
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