The protection of your Intellectual Property depends of the form or format and the time you seek to protect it.
Form
- Literary – Copy
- Artistic – Copyright
- Audio – Copyright for Audio Recordings
- Digital – Copyright for Digital Recording
- Invention, Medicines, Science – Patent
- Symbol – Trademark or Service Mark
- Identifying Words – Trademark or Word Mark
These rights can be vested in common law and also by the USPTO, United States Patent Trademark Office.
Common Law
Common Law rights exist, but understand where case law sets precedent; common law is not very strong protection. Statutory law can supersede and judges can create precedent where there is none. In Intellectual Property it is said that there is no thought as an original thought and therefore the rights to the thought or expression, must be vested somewhere. This is what the USPTO and the U.S. Copyright Office are the recorders of the rights.
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