What is the difference between Trademark, Patent and Copyright?

Trademarks, Patents, and Copyrights are all different forms of intellectual property rights; rights given to entities to protect their innovations. Such rights provide peace of mind to creators to ensure that such bodies of work will not be used by other entities. These three different types of intellectual property offer different forms of protection.

Trademarks

Trademarks protect the name of the registered creative by preventing other entities from using the same name. Through it, consumers would be aware that the owner is the source of the good or service they are looking for. This is crucial to traders as it prevents all products on the market from being homogenous in the consumer’s eye. Any sign, graphic, word or other form of design element which represents a company or a product can be trademarked. Chapter 416 of the Laws of Malta is the legal instrument relating to trademarks and it defines a trademark as “any sign capable of being represented graphically which is capable of distinguishing goods or services of one undertaking from those of other undertakings”.

Since Malta is a European Member State, the country offers two different options for those wishing to trademark their brand. The first option involves registering for a national/domestic trademark in Malta with the Malta Intellectual Property Office. Once registered, a trader will know that his products, once placed on the market, clearly identify him as the source of the products. This would also mean that good quality items on the market carrying a trademark will be more competitive as consumers will naturally become more inclined to seek out that specific trademark as a brand rather than similar generic products. The second route involves obtaining a European Union Trademark, which is also commonly referred to as a “Community Trademark”. In principle, a community trademark confers the same rights as a national trademark. A community trademark however, once registered, extends the protection across the EU. A Community Trademark must be registered with the European Intellectual Property Office (the “EUIPO”). Thus, a successful application made to this office will result in a trade mark award that will be valid throughout the member states.

A Malta Trademark extends protection to well-known marks in Malta eligible for protection, according to the Paris Convention. Malta follows the Nice Classification system administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization which is applied in most of the world’s countries. Therefore, under Maltese law, 45 categories of trademarks exist; 34 of these relate to categories of goods and 11 to services. A Malta-registered trademark guarantees protection for a period of 10 years and may be renewed thereafter.

CSB Group regularly provides assistance to those wishing to protect their business through the registering of a national or a Community Trademark by assisting them throughout the application process and will assist applicants in filing applications, renewals, name disputes, legal advice and many other intellectual property services.

Patents

A patent may be awarded in respect of an invention. The concept of an invention may relate either to a new product or to a novel process. Upon registering a patent, one will have total ownership of the invention without permission of the patent owner. Apart from giving certainty that an invention belongs to you, a patent under Maltese law gives its owner the right to do or authorise the following actions:

• Making products involving the subject matter of the patent
• Offering or putting the product on the market based on the substance of the patent along with the use of such product, or the importation or stocking of such product where the purpose will be to put it on the local market.
• Including any person to perform any of the above.

A patentable product can be defined as a new invention which involves an inventive step and which is susceptible of industrial applications. In contrast with an EU Trademark which is automatically valid in all EU countries, A European Patent does not grant this right, and instead grants a set of independent national patents. This means that a European Patent application designating Malta as the main country and a national application registering for the Malta Patent, essentially serve the same purpose.

Copyright

The essence of copyright can be deduced from the name itself. The owner of copyright in a work possesses the right to copy and, by inference, the right to prevent others from copying. Current Maltese copyright law is to be principally found in the Copyright Act, Chapter 415 of the Laws of Malta. According to Maltese law, the following works are eligible for copyright:

1. Artistic works;
2. Audiovisual works;
3. Databases;
4. Literary works;
5. Musical works.

Under Maltese law, a copyright is granted automatically to an eligible work, and therefore, there is no need to register for a copyright, as is the case with trademarks and patents. For a work to be eligible for copyright, it must be original in character and must exist in a material form. The requirement of originality is construed as requiring only that the work is that of the author, i.e. that it has not been copied from any other source. If the work in question is eligible for copyright, the protection would be automatically granted for the lifetime of the author and up to 70 years after their death.

What we offer

Our team of experts will be able to offer you the necessary assistance required when applying for an intellectual property of your choice. Our services include registrations and renewals of Trademarks, offering advice on intellectual property infringement and providing applicants with any legal assistance required. Contact us on [email protected] to book a meeting with one of our representatives.

About the Author

This article has been authored by Dr Simon Mangion, Regulatory & Business Advisor.