There are a multitude of state as well as federal laws that safeguard and control creative expressions and property such as paintings, photos, software products, music, content writing, books, movies and so forth.
Together, all of these laws come under the umbrella of the “intellectual property law” and comprises the copyright, trademark as well as the patent laws, which individually can be applied to numerous situations and come with their own technicalities and rules. When one applies for permissions in order to be able to use the creative work of other people, they will be dealing with the copyright laws of the United States of America. For a select group of work, different laws such as trade secrecy, trademarks, privacy as well as publicity rights will come into the picture when permission is sought to use works that come under the afore-mentioned group.
For new and uninitiated people, it becomes very difficult to understand the plethora of US Federal Intellectual property laws and regulations, and to apply them correctly to the situations that they go through. Even for people with experience, this is still a daunting task, as there are several blind spots in these laws that make it difficult to understand. A specialist agency like Wiser Market who deal with brand protection services, trademark and copyright registrations and enforcement on a daily basis will be better poised to understand the unique situations of people and help them apply the law correctly without falling foul of it.
Copyright deals with the creative works (original) such as software, music, paintings, designs, movies and similar items – and for an item to be covered under copyright protection, it must fulfil certain criterion. Copyright protection is given for a period of time that can change based on the date on which the work was first made or published.
Trademark deals with branding and brand names. There are well established brands names in the market like Apple and Reebok, and also tag-lines, logos that depict as well as separate different products and services, and these come under the trademark laws that have been established by states as well as by the federal government. These works are treated a little differently from copyrighted works – in that they get different levels of protections on the basis of different factors that include the type of product/service that is being represented, the area in which this trademark will be in operation, as well as the public awareness of the trademark.
Trade Secrets deal with the sensitive and secretive information of businesses. For instance, a sales plan for the launch of a new software or the recipe for Coco-cola comes under the Trade Secret protection – if a business feels that this information is likely to benefit them over other competitors.
Right of Privacy deals with the right of individuals to be left undisturbed and alone by others. These laws and rights do not come strictly under the aegis of the intellectual property laws. When the privacy of people is invaded, the offenders are tried under the invasion of privacy laws by the appropriate agency designated by the state.
