Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the PKF Texas – Entrepreneur’s Playbook® page of the PKF Texas website.
When protecting your company’s intellectual property, it is important to know whether you need to apply for a patent, trademark or copyright. Each guards your intellectual property in a different manner.
• Patents protect inventions and improvements to inventions.
• Trademarks protect words, names, symbols, sounds or colors that distinguish your goods or services from those manufactured or sold by others.
• Copyrights protect provided the authors of “original works of authorship,” including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other intellectual works. This protection is available to both published and unpublished works.
Taking the time to safe guard your intellectual property will ensure you have legal recourse if another company is trying to infringe on your rights as an entrepreneur.
Look for educational seminars or workshops led by top patent, trademark and copyright attorneys in your area. The Buskop Law Group in Houston offers these types of seminars once a month.
For more information about obtaining patents, trademarks, or copyrights visit www.USPTO.gov and www.Copyright.gov.