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Patent and Trademark Resource Center (PTRC)

This guide will help you navigate resources provided by the Cline Library Patent and Trademark Resource Center (PTRC).

What is Intellectual Property?

Intellectual property (IP) refers to creations of the mind, such as inventions; literary and artistic works; designs; and symbols, names and images used in commerce.

IP is protected in law by, for example, patents, copyright and trademarks, which enable people to earn recognition or financial benefit from what they invent or create. By striking the right balance between the interests of innovators and the wider public interest, the IP system aims to foster an environment in which creativity and innovation can flourish.

 

Content from the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

What type of IP do I have?

Do you know what types of IP you might have? Do you know how to protect them? Use the USPTO’s IP Identifier to find out the types of IP you might have and learn how to protect them. Start with six basic questions to help identify your IP, then dig in deeper with the advanced questionnaire for each type of IP.

  Trademark Patent Copyright
What's legally protected? A word, phrase, design, or a combination that identifies your goods or services, distinguishes them from the goods or services of others, and indicates the source of your goods or services. Technical inventions, such as chemical compositions like pharmaceutical drugs, mechanical processes like complex machinery, or machine designs that are new, unique, and usable in some type of industry. Artistic, literary, or intellectually created works, such as novels, music, movies, software code, photographs, and paintings that are original and exist in a tangible medium, such as paper, canvas, film, or digital format.
What's an example? Coca-Cola® for soft drinks A new type of hybrid engine Song lyrics to “Let It Go”
from "Frozen"
What are the benefits
of federal protection?		 Protects the trademark from being registered by others without permission and helps you prevent others from using a trademark that is similar to yours with related goods or services.  Safeguards inventions and processes from other parties copying, making, using, or selling the invention without the inventor’s consent. Protects your exclusive right to reproduce, distribute, and perform or display the created work, and prevents other people from copying or exploiting the creation without the copyright holder’s permission.

Content from the USPTO.