I wanna say there is a hierarchy of enforcability to trademarks, copyrights and patents on top of their application requisites. I also think that Patents are sort of the top tier that all regulations apply to with a trickle down effect in how they apply to TM’s and C’s. Don’t quote me on it tho. I’m going off the time at work years ago when the idea of patenting or tradmarking a thing. I might also be mixing it up with how they regulate Trademarks vs Registered Copyrights.
It’s not a hierarchy of enforcability but they grant different protections for different lengths of time.
So trademark is you can’t call your soda Coke forever if they maintain trademark. But you can make a different identical tasting soda with a different name.
Copyright means you can’t make a copy of Harry Potter until the copyright ends 70 years after the author dies. You can however make your own story about a boy who goes to wizard school and fights a previously defeated evil.
Patent gives you the most protection because they protect the idea but only last up to 20 years depending on the type. So the RISC patent meant you couldn’t make a computer with fewer instructions allowing it to go faster until it expired.
Right, but how does it work when there are applications at the patent office for existing trademarks to be registered? You can trademark anything but need a special registration approval for the trademark to be registered. Same for all the thing that say patent pending, right? Maybe that was the hierarchy I was mis-remembering.
It’s not a hierarchy. They protect different things.
For trademark they try to determine if a normal person could confuse it for an existing trademark. So a drink called cocaKola with white lettering on a red background isn’t going to get protection. You could easily think you are buying a Coke but you are not.
You register to help get your origin date on record. Being first is super important in a trademark dispute. It also helps to show that a infringer should have known about your trademark because it was registered.
Patent means you can’t take my idea and use it without my permission no matter what you call it. Patent pending means we asked for a patent but don’t have it yet. If you copy our idea and we get the patent we can come after you.
