Today in class, we learned how to identify trademarks, copyrights and trade secrets.
1. Apparently, it is very cheap to hold a trademark and typically large corporations hold onto many throughout the world. While one company may purchase a trademark in the United States, it is not applicable in another country. A trademark is a logo, symbol, name or device used to identify a service.
2. Copyrights are a tool used to prevent someone from copying your product. Nowadays, these are extremely common as musicians, software companies and the movie industry use copyrights to make it illegal to use their product without permission and often with financial compensation for themselves. Even though there are websites that exist where you can download these files illegally, having these laws in place makes sure that at least the creators get some fair compensation and the violators are punished.
3. Trade secrets are any sort of information that is valuable and confidential. These include: customer lists, sales or profit date, product weaknesses, internal designs and processes and procedures. Most importantly, the trade secret is the crux that makes the company so successful because it is what gives its competitive advantage. For example, my dad's company, Mixografia, which creates 3-dimensional hand paper prints, uses machines and processes (that my dad invented and patented) in order to create what he does. His company is the only print-maker in the world that is able to create 3-dimensional prints and is what gives him the competitive advantage over other print makers in his field.
