IT’S easy to overlook the importance of intellectual property to your business, especially if you’re all new to it. Honestly, that’s one of the most common yet critical rookie mistakes that budding entrepreneurs make, and we can’t blame them for that.
It’s worth mentioning, however, that copyright and trademark are not interchangeable since they do not cover the same things. Thus, entrepreneurs must learn how to tell the difference between the two. In a nutshell, the protection of a trademark begins upon the issuance of the registration certificate by the IPOPHL. When the 10-year period of protection expires, owners may renew the same for another 10 years at a time.
Essentially, copyright protection extends to the expression of particular ideas rather than the ideas themselves, as emphasized in the case of Filipino Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers, Inc. v. Anrey, Incorporated. While trademarks have a 10-year protection term, copyrighted works are protected by law during the lifetime of the author and for 50 years after his or her demise. Generally, creators have the ultimate right to use or authorize others to utilize their works, subject to their own terms and conditions.