The overlap of Trademarks, Copyrights and Patents
October 7, 2010
Sometimes it’s hard to tell whether you need a trademark, copyright or patent. And the truth is that they all overlap and can even be part of the same product. This can happen because they each offer different types of legal protection.
For example, a T-shirt with a silkscreen print on it could be covered by trademark, copyright and patent all at the same time. Trademark protects the brand or logo on the t-shirt. The silkscreen print is protected by copyright and lastly, the actual fabric that the shirt is made of (if it is a new, innovative and original type of microfiber or textile) could be protected by a patent.
It’s more common for just trademark and copyright coverage to overlap. This happens frequently… on books, websites, CD’s. On these products, trademark protects the brand or logo of the company or publisher… and copyright protects the text, music and other original content.
In the world of trademarks, copyrights and patents… they often overlap and are used on the same product.
