Copyright vs Other Intellectual Property

How does copyright differ from intellectual property (IP) rights of trademark, patents,and trade secrets?

The Big Question

When you buy a Coca-Cola, you expect it to taste like every other Coca-Cola you have bought in the past. Have you ever stopped to wonder why that’s true?

“Coca Cola (1944 x 1296)” by Asta Adamonyte licensed under CC BY

Given Coca-Cola’s worldwide popularity, why don’t other companies make soft drinks that they also call Coca-Cola and package in red and silver cans? That would let them sell their drinks very inexpensively, because they wouldn’t need to invest in marketing - the original Coca-Cola would do be doing that for them. While this sounds like a great opportunity for an unscrupulous business, it sounds like a disaster for a thirsty person who will be unpleasantly surprised when her Coke tastes different than she expected.

The reason “fake” Coca-Cola doesn’t exist is that copyright isn’t the only form of intellectual property protected by law. The law also protects trademarks and patents. Trade secrets can be legally protected, too.

Learning Outcomes

• Differentiate between copyright and patent
• Differentiate between copyright and trademark
• Differentiate between copyright and trade secret

Personal Reflection / Why It Matters to You

What types of intellectual work do you do? Do you create original expressions? Have you established a reputation in your community or field of practice, or area of employment? Do you invent things - maybe small, but useful things? Why is it important to you to have some control over your creations, reputation, or inventions?

Acquiring Essential Knowledge

Differentiating Between Copyrights, Trademarks, Patents, and Trade Secrets

Intellectual property law protects creations of the mind (hence the name intellectual property). For a brief introduction to the different forms of intellectual property, watch the short video Trademarks, Patents and Copyrights - What’s the Difference?

As with copyright, other forms of intellectual property like trademarks, patents, and trade secrets are protected by law. Copyrights protect creative expressions like novels, songs, and movies.

Trademarks protect designs or expressions that identify a product as coming from a specific source (things like the red and white Coca-Cola logo or McDonald’s Golden Arches).

Patents protect inventions like mouse traps and Global Positioning Systems (GPS). Trade secrets, economically advantageous information not known to the general public, are protected by mechanisms like non-disclosure agreements.

For additional information on each form of intellectual property, see these detailed articles on trademarks, patents, and trade secrets.

Application of Learning

Learner Toolkit

Select two or three resources directly relevant to your personal or work-related CC needs from the Acquiring Essential Knowledge content and add them to your personal Creative Commons toolkit. Adding them to your toolkit makes them easy to find and use when the need arises, and makes it easy for you to pass on resources you consider important to others. Annotate the resources with notes explaining why they are relevant and important for you and your work.

Community - Collaboration, Appreciation, Recognition, Gratitude

It’s relatively straightforward to identify examples of creations that would enjoy either copyright, trademark, or patent protection. Can you come up with an example that might enjoy two forms of protection simultaneously? How about an example that might enjoy all three forms of protection? Share your examples and explanations in the CC Certification social forum, and see if you agree with the examples and explanations posted by others.

Applied Practice

Complete the following activity in the Quest Bank:

• Poetic Forms of IP