{ Patents }
To give some basic background information, a patent is a contract between an inventor and the government. The inventor must fully disclose his invention, and thereby contribute something new and useful to the fund of public knowledge. In exchange, the government grants to the inventor (or his assignee) the right to exclude others from making, using or selling the claimed invention for 20 years.
{ Trademarks }
A trademark (or service mark) is a mark (or logo) used by an entity in connection with its products (or services) to distinguish its products (or services) from those of its competitors. For example, well-known trademarks for photocopiers include “Xerox”, “Minolta” and “Canon”
{ Copyrights }
Copyright protection protects an author’s work of authorship from unauthorized reproduction, distribution and public display or performance of the work of authorship.