In honor of today’s copyright reading, here is an article explaining copyright and trademark protections in the context of a startup or entrepreneurial business. The article (aimed at entrepreneurs, not attorneys) first provides an overview of the two, and some comparisons. It also explains “common law rights,” those rights which perhaps do not require even a filing to gain.

The interesting part of the article, I think, is near the end. It tells entrepreneurs to focus their efforts and budget on registering trademarks, because “since trademarks more often have a higher impact on the average company’s asset value and provides some critical competitive positions against others.” (article, near bottom). This is interesting, and could help the soft IP attorneys among us perhaps provide better services to our small business clients. I think another interesting twist on this would be considering how services such as LegalZoom can provide low cost services in this area, but that is beyond the scope of this article.