(upbeat music)
- Hi everyone.
I'm attorney Aiden Durham
with 180 Law Co. in Denver, Colorado,
and you're watching All Up In Yo' Business.
Intellectual property comes in many forms.
A few of those most common forms
are trademarks and copyrights,
and it's pretty common for people
to get the two mixed up.
So in this episode of developing your business,
we're gonna talk about copyrights and trademarks,
what they are,
what's the difference.
And are they ever the same?
Occasionally there will be some overlap
between copyrights and trademarks,
but for the most part,
they're two very different things.
Copyrights protect original works.
Think of it like this,
copyrights apply to works of art and creativity.
Things like paintings,
books, videos, photos, sculptures.
These are all creative and artistic works
and copyrights apply to them.
A copyright gives the copyright holder
the exclusive right to use,
reproduce, sell, modify the work.
Trademarks on the other hand,
protect words or symbols
that are used to identify the source
of a good or a service,
and to distinguish it from the goods or services
of a competitor.
So trademarks are things like business names,
business logos, service or product names,
product packaging, those kinds of things.
Really, anything that helps you define or identify
a brand is considered a trademark.
And a trademark gives the trademark owner
exclusive right to use the trademark
in connection with its goods or services.
So putting this into the context of a business,
copyrights would apply to things like photos,
videos, websites, eBooks,
marketing collateral, marketing material,
worksheets or workbooks,
whereas trademarks would apply
to the businesses name, logo,
slogan, and things like that.
Given this it's pretty clear,
there's a distinct difference
between copyrights and trademarks,
but every once in a while,
we'll have a little clash,
worlds colliding if you will,
with copyrights and trademarks.
And sometimes the same thing,
the same one thing
can be protected by a copyright and a trademark.
Think of the NBC chimes sound,
that ni ni ni,
that sound that we all think of NBC
when we hear those chimes,
that sound, that chime sound it's music.
It's an original work of creativity
or of art
in that it's a musical creation
and so copyright is applied.
But it's also used as a trademark by NBC.
When the general public hears those chimes,
we automatically think of NBC.
That sound is used by NBC
to tell the general public,
these are our services or our products,
our TV shows,
our air, our programs, all of that.
You're watching NBC.
That's how you know you are
because you hear those chimes.
So those chimes
are protected both by copyrights
because it's a creative work
and it's also protected by trademarks
because it's used by NBC as a trademark.
And yes, I didn't mention this,
but sounds can be trademarks as well.
So can colors or even smells.
You ever walk into a store
and there's a very distinct scent
when you walk into it.
And if you walk into the same store
in a different mall,
it's that same scent.
You start to recognize it
when you're out and about.
If you smell that scent,
you associate it with that particular store.
A lot of stores have trademarks over their scents
that they pipe into the store
to help customers associate that smell
with their products or their services.
So it's not just words or symbols.
It can be sounds and smells as well.
Logos are a common intersection
of trademarks and copyrights.
Logos will often contain
some kind of drawing or design
that is protectable by copyright.
So as an example,
Disney has various trademark registrations
over the "Mickey Mouse" character.
If Disney puts a picture of Mickey on a product,
we see that product
and we automatically associate it with Disney.
We know when we see Mickey
that product or that thing is coming from Disney.
So Mickey is a trademark of Disney
in that sense,
but Disney also has a copyright
on the "Mickey Mouse" character
because the character itself of Mickey
is a creative work
that is also eligible for copyright protection.
So because Mickey is a work of art,
he's a copyright,
but because Disney uses Mickey
to indicate their brand,
it's also a trademark
and this is somewhat common
with logos for businesses.
There will be some original artistic drawing
in the logo,
which aside from being a trademark
is in itself a copyright as well.
So the simplest way to think about it
when we're trying to compare trademarks and copyrights,
copyrights are art.
That's the way I like to think about it.
Copyrights are art,
if it's something creative or artistic,
usually copyrights are going to apply.
Whereas trademarks are used by businesses
to indicate the source of their products.
Occasionally there can be an overlap,
but for the most part,
trademarks and copyrights are two very different things.
That's all for this episode.
If you've got trademark or copyright questions,
feel free to shoot them down in the comments below.
If you are looking for help
with registering your copyright or your trademark,
feel free to contact me.
My phone number and email are below.
I also encourage you to check out Brand Bombshell,
which is my all-inclusive trademark registration package,
which will take your brand from blah to bomb.
Be sure to give a thumbs up
and hit that like button
so you don't miss any future episodes
of All Up In Yo' Business.
Thank you all so much for watching,
I'm Aiden Durham,
and I will see you next time.