The most commonly-disputed intellectual property rights are copyright and trademark, which protect different types of intellectual property and are enforced through different laws.
Copyright
Copyright protects a physical work or representation from being duplicated without the expressed permission of the copyright holder (the person who created the work). It protects the expression of the thought, not the originality of the thought or idea. The originality requirement for protection is that the author of the work has used some skill and labour in creating the work, not simply copied it. An idea is not protected until it is reduced to material form. Copyright is meant to foster creativity and provide incentives to create original works of authorship for the benefit of the public. Copyright covers a wide variety of types of works, including: books, songs, videos, photos. On the other hand, names, titles, or short phrases aren’t considered to be original enough for copyright protection.
Trademark
Trademarks are specific words, phrases, logos, symbols or designs that identify and distinguish the products or services of a company from those offered by others. Trademark law generally seeks to prevent confusion among consumers about who provides or is affiliated with a product or service. Trademark infringement may occur when one party uses a trademark which is identical or confusingly similar to a trademark owned by another party.
