To add to directrix's comment: yes, patents are national in scope, and
each country has it's own patent office (in theory, at least... for
example, right now I suspect patents are a pretty low priority in a
country such as Iraq). The concept behind a patent is that in exchange
for disclosing your invention to the registrar in a particular
country, that country's government will then provide you with certain
legal rights for the exclusive market related to that invention for a
specified period of time. The level of protection varies from country
to country (in some countries, you are better off NOT disclosing
anything), and likewise the level of reciprocity between countries
varies. For example, if you have a US Patent on an invention, most
"western" nations will recognize that as an example of prior claim or
prior art, so that someone else can't come along and register your
invention as their own in one of the other countries. However, certain
nations, including Japan, are pretty lax about this, or have special
rules requiring that registrants be based in the country first (as
opposed to simply using a representative based in the country). It all
gets mired down in the legalities very quickly.
A copyright is simply a legal position/concept granted without need
for registration to any creator of any creative work. A copyright must
be enforced to ever truly be recorded anywhere, ie. the copyright
owner would have to sue someone for copyright infringement before the
courts would ever know about the copyright in question.
Not all trademarks are registered (hence the concept of registered
trademark versus just a trademark). Trademarks for most large
companies are typically registered, usually with the same government
organization that looks after patents. However, the scope of a
particular trademark may be limited to the state/provincial level
versus a federal/national level, as well as by field of practice.
Therefore, if I operate a business based in Oregon catering only to
clientele in Oregon, and sell a product I make called GoGoJuice,
unless I pay for and register it on a national level as well, there's
nothing preventing a company based in Florida, which caters only to
Floridians, from selling a different product called GoGoJuice as well.
It comes down to a case of practical knowledge; unless I register my
trademark at a national level, there's no practical way for the
Florida company to know that I am using that product name (ie. a mark
in trade) in Oregon. Since registering and renewing a trademark costs
significant amounts of money, the only reason for someone to register
one is if they anticipate needing to use that trademark across the
country and want government assistance in ensuring exclusive rights to
the trademark.
Hope this helps,
aht-ga |
