Copyright or Copywrite? Copyright? Trademark?
I recently received a question that relates to copyright and trademark law. I thought would make the basis of a good blog post. So I could make a point, I am inserting the exact words provided by the person who presented the question.
Question:
“I would like to get info about copywriting my logo. Not sure if it should be copywritten or trademarked. Would you explain the difference. It is not a symbol, but an acronym.”
First, as with everything I post, this is NOT legal advice. It is meant to provide useful general copyright information, only.
Copyright.
Second, when speaking about intellectual property and the topic of copyright, the correct spelling is “copyright”, not “copywrite”. Copywrite refers to the writing of copy or text. A copywriter is a person who writes copy for a website, an advertisement, etc. When you register your content, such as a book, article, photograph, website content, or image, you copyright it.
Trademark? Copyright?
Next, there is a distinction between a copyright and a trademark. And although both are forms of intellectual property, they each are distinctly different types of protection.
Copyright – is a legal form of protection afforded to any original work of art or authorship that has been reduced to a tangible form. Examples again are books, articles, eBooks, photos, videos, poems, jewelry, and choreographed works. For more information on copyright, take a look at this page and check out the U.S. Copyright Office website.
Trademark – a name, word, phrase, logo, or a combination of those things that identifies the source of a product or a service. Examples are Nike, Microsoft, Apple, the golden arches, the Nike swoosh symbol. For more information on trademark, take a look at this page and check out the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office website.
If your logo is important to you, and if it is at the core of your business, you should speak with a lawyer on a one to one basis and get some specific legal advice regarding your situation. Any information provided here is purely general informational and not legal advice.
Until next time, I’m Attorney Francine Ward providing you with useful information to help you protect what’s yours. If you have a question you want me to answer in general terms, feel free to post the question. If you want specific legal advice, feel free to contact me for a scheduled appointment. You can also reach me through my Legal Facebook Page, my Legal Twitter Page, one of my Google+ Circles, or through one of my LinkedIn Group discussion.
