Disclaimer:

This article is only written to clarify an issue I occasionally witness within the communities of Indie Developers and artists involving misuse, misunderstandings and confusion regarding Legal Symbols, Copyright and Trademarks.

I am not a lawyer and have no degrees in law. I suggest that you research the subjects through reputable sources and/or seek out proper legal advice to gain more of an understanding on local and international laws of this subject.

Also, this article may contain inaccuracies and I will not be held for anything that happens, good or bad, as a result from applying the information in this article to anything.

Some laws may and will vary from region to region and some of the information may not apply to you.

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COPYRIGHT Versus TRADEMARKS and REGISTERED TRADEMARKS.
(AKA: “© vs™/®”)

So, I’ve seen some misuse of symbols and false claims regarding the difference between copyrights and trademarks enough to feel the need to write a guide that briefly explains the differences between these things and their legal symbols.

• COPYRIGHT: Copyright grants the creator of tangible works the exclusive rights to copy them and restricts others from making copies and derivatives of the works.

The following varies between jurisdictions, but in the US, It does NOT cover the Titles, names, characters, ideas and things like that.

-The legal symbol for copyright is “©”. It is applicable to copyrights claimed under common law and registered copyrights.

• TRADEMARKS: Trademarks can be things like Names, logos, symbols, phrases and other properties used for recognition.

*-The legal symbol for a trademark that is unregistered and/or pending registration is “™”

-The legal symbol for trademarks that have been registered is “®*”.

• **INFRINGEMENT:

**-Copyright infirngement: If I made a game called “Cut the shit” and had the game registered as a copyright and some derp redistributes or makes derivatives of it without proper permission, I can take legal action as this is “Copyright Infringement”.

-Trademark infringement: If I make a game called “Cut the shit” and registered the name and logo and some derp took the either for his/her/its/whatever’s own game, I can take legal action for “Trademark Infringement”.

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That’s about it. The process of claiming copyrights and trademarks under common law or register them with your government is out of the scope for this article, so I recommend that you search the web for reputable sources regarding these things. You may be surprised to find out the rights you and your work has upon its creation.