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Without looking it up, what do you think copyright	by Illiad	2008-10-01 13:22:58
Well going from memory...	by AndyA	2008-10-01 13:48:33
Copyright - The legal right for the creator of a creative work (or their agent) to control it's use and distribution for a limited period of time. The time period a work is protected is fairly long and depends on the form the material is in and can be relative to the works creation date or the creators death depending on the type of material in question. For a rough estimate of the longest protection offered take the current year, subtract the date of Walt Disney's death and add what Disney feels is a suitable safety margin. Trademark - A protection on the name of a product to prevent competitors from using the same or a similar, easily confusable name for their product. No fixed time limit but lapses if the name falls out of use or becomes so common as to be a generic term of similar services. i.e. To google for something meaning to search the web for it is now in common use and so google's trademark on the name is significantly weakened. A company logo is copyrighted but the company name is trademarked. Patent - Legal protection on an invention or technical innovation which grants the inventor exclusive rights to use and / or license the invention for a limited time. This right is granted in exchange for disclosing details of the invention so that upon the patents exploration anyone can implement it free of charge. Patents have the shortest length of protection (20 years) and unlike the others must be applied for and payed for rather than being automatic. In the US at least a Patent must also have a renewal fee paid at a couple of points during its life in order to maintain the protection for the full 20 years.
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