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Patent - Patent is a federal right of exclusive use which may be granted to inventors. Patents may be of three types: utility, design, and plant. Utility patents may protect processes, machines, or compositions of matter. Patentable creations must be novel, nonobvious, and useful. A patent gives the owner the exclusive right to make, use, license, sell, or assign the patent for a period of 20 years from the date of filing the application for the patent (14 years from the date of issuance for a design patent).
Copyright - Copyright is a federal right which protects artistic or literary works including literature, music, plays, photographs, motion pictures, recordings, and to some extent computer programs. Copyright protects the particular tangible expression of an idea, but not the underlying idea or method of operation. The federal act allows copyright without registration but will limit recourse if the work was not registered. The duration of copyright is the life of the author plus 70 years. For a corporate owner, copyright lasts 95 years from publication or 120 years from creation.
Trademark - A trademark is a mark, or a combination of words and symbols, used in conjunction with a trade or business which distinguishes that trade or business and the goods or services thereof from those of others. The trademark is valid for ten years, but can be renewed for an unlimited number of terms as long as the mark is still being used. If the mark or name becomes a generic term, trademark protection of the mark or name is lost.
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