When I first saw today’s one-word prompt, “trademark,” I started seeing those little symbols, like ©, ®, and ™, dancing around in my head. Yeah, I know. I’m weird.
I began to wonder when one uses one versus the others, so, of course, I Googled it. If you couldn’t care less about when to use ©, ®, or ™, or what they mean, you can stop reading now. I won’t be bothered. But if you are the least bit interested….
A trademark is a word, phrase, symbol, and/or design that identifies and distinguishes the source of the goods of one party from those of others. It alerts potential infringers that a term, slogan, logo, or other indicator is being claimed as a trademark. However, the use of TM does not guarantee the owner’s mark will be protected under trademark law.
A registered trademark, however, indicates that the trademark has been registered with the US Patent and Trademark Office. A registered trademark not only deters imitators, it also provides a heavy presumption of ownership in the courts. Woo hoo!
A copyright used with literary works, such as books, photographs, art work, and videos. It offers a person exclusive rights to reproduce, publish, or sell his or her original work of authorship.
How can I put this to practical use? Well, I suppose I could trademark the name of this blog: This, That, and The Other™ so that no one else can use that phrase without my persmission. And I could copyright the actual posts that I have written on this blog and then sue the shit out of anyone who uses my precious words.
Nah.
It’s not worth it. And really, you do not need to copyright books either, unless you are publishing internationally. The ownership of an original manuscript is considered a legal copyright. it’s a different matter when you get into actual inventions. That’s another kettle of fishies.
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Good to know, not that I’m planning to publish anything other than my posts on WordPress.
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