What is the difference between Copyright and Patent?

Patent Registration and Trademark Registration are different types of intellectual property (IP). Although the two types of IP are very different from one other but people often confuse them.

A brief description of Patent Registration and Trademark Registration including a brief discussion of how these forms of Intellectual Property are different from each other is provided below.

The patent registration in India gives an exclusive right to the owner or patentee over his/her invention for a limited period. After completing the registration, no one will be able to use the inventions without getting permission from the owner, but the invention must be unique and innovative, which can be used in the industry. In India, it works under the Patent Act 1970 and Patent Rules 1972. Also, the inventor or owner has to produce all the evidence regarding the invention to prove the uniqueness of the invention.

An application for registering a patent is managed by "The Patent Office, Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks." Scroll down to check more information regarding Patent Registration in India.

Below are the steps of online registration of patent in India:

Step 1: Before the registration, you must be aware of the non-obviousness of an invention and search for the patent is conducted. If you already have a registered patent on your head, then the patent cannot be granted.

Step 2: After the patent search, you need to fill an application form and the necessary documents, as we mentioned above, and invention with the intellectual property department.

Step 3: After submitting the patent application form, a patent officer of the Indian Government will check if there is an existing patent on a similar idea. If they find the invention is unique and fall under all the criteria, the patent will be granted.

Step 4: After verifying the patent application, the status of the application will be updated online on the official portal of the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, Ministry of Commerce &Industry, and Government of India. It takes one year for the grant of a patent certificate.

Under the Copyright Act, 1957, a copyright registration gives various rights and protections to an original work creator. Creators of dramatic, musical, literary, and artistic works and cinematography or music video producers can avail rights on their original creation by copyright registration. Various rights are offered to the creators of giving rights to communication, reproduction, translation, and work adaptation.

The process of copyright registration of original work with the Registrar of copyrights as per the provisions of Chapter X of the Copyright Act, 1957 and rule 70 of the Copyright rules 2013 is as follows:

Step 1: File an Application

• The creator of the work files an application for registration physically in the copyright office or through E-filing service available on the copyright's official website.
• For the registration of each work, a specific application has to be filed according to work, with the registrar of copyrights along with the details of the work.

After the application and fee are submitted, the registrar of copyright will issue the applicant's dairy number.

Step 2: Examination

After the dairy number is issued, the minimum waiting period is 30 days. In this time period, the concerned authorities examine the registration application. This waiting period is included in the registration process so that the objections can be raised and reviewed to valid or invalid. Form this point; the process is divided into two parts:

• In case if there are no objections raised, the concerned authorities scrutinize the application to find any inconsistency.

1. Suppose the application is as per the format, and there are no flaws. All the necessary information and documents provided along with the registration application are found satisfactory by the authorities. In that case, the applicant can proceed with the further registration process steps.
2. If the application has inconsistencies, then a letter is sent to the applicant, mentioning the inconsistency. The applicant has to reply to the letter. Based on the applicant's reply, a hearing will be conducted by the registrar of copyrights. If the inconsistency is resolved in the hearing, the applicant can go through the rest of the registration process.

• In case if there are objections raised by a third party, authorities will send letters to both parties, and both parties are called for a hearing in the registrar office.

Step 3: Registration

After the registrar is satisfied by the application and documents and the objection stage is cleared without rejection. The copyright registrar will enter the details of copyright into the copyright register and issues a certificate of registration.

The Copyright Act, 1957 protects the rights gained by copyright registration. Patent and copyright are two different things. A patent registration protects the ideas, but copyright registration protects the expressions. The validity of copyright registration in India is 60 years.