Trademark, Copyright, Patent, or Trade Secret: Which Law Protects What in Your Business

Last updated: November 2026. Reviewed by Pavel Kolmogorov, California business litigation attorney (State Bar No. 321018).

A trademark protects the names and logos that identify who stands behind a product. A copyright protects original creative work, a patent protects an invention, and a trade secret protects information kept confidential. (15 U.S.C. § 1127; 17 U.S.C. § 102(a); Civ. Code, § 3426.1, subd. (d).) A copied logo is a trademark problem, copied website text is a copyright problem, and a taken formula is usually a trade secret problem. Kolmogorov Law, P.C. litigates trademark, copyright, and trade secret disputes in Orange County, Los Angeles, and across California.

Call (909) 235-6116 or contact us online to discuss which of these laws fits what was taken from your business.

Trademark: the brand

A trademark is any word, name, symbol, or device used to identify one seller's goods, distinguish them from those of others, and indicate their source. (15 U.S.C. § 1127.) Business names, logos, and slogans are the usual examples.

Rights come from use in the market. Registration is optional, though a certificate of registration on the federal principal register is prima facie evidence that the mark is valid and that the registrant owns it. (15 U.S.C. § 1057(b).) A registration runs for ten years and can be renewed for further ten-year periods, so a mark can last as long as it stays in use. (15 U.S.C. §§ 1058(a), 1059(a).)

The infringement question is whether the other side's use is likely to confuse customers about source or affiliation. (15 U.S.C. § 1125(a)(1)(A).) Proof of deliberate copying is not required. Our page on likelihood of confusion explains the test.

Copyright: the expression

Copyright protects original works of authorship fixed in a tangible medium, including text, photographs, graphics, video, music, and software code. (17 U.S.C. § 102(a).) Protection begins when the work is created and fixed. No filing is needed for the right to exist, but a United States work generally must be registered before an infringement suit is filed. (17 U.S.C. § 411(a).)

The limit that surprises owners sits in the same section. Copyright does not extend to an idea, procedure, process, system, or method of operation, however it is described. (17 U.S.C. § 102(b).) It covers the way you expressed something. A competitor who takes the idea and writes its own version has usually not infringed, as our page on the elements of copyright infringement explains.

For works created since 1978, the term is generally the author's life plus 70 years, or for a work made for hire, 95 years from publication or 120 years from creation, whichever ends first. (17 U.S.C. § 302(a), (c).)

Patent: the invention

A patent covers a new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter. (35 U.S.C. § 101.) Unlike the other three, it exists only if the government grants it on an application. It gives the right to exclude others from making, using, or selling the invention, and the term generally ends 20 years after the application was filed. (35 U.S.C. § 154(a)(1), (2).) A design patent protects a new, original, and ornamental design for an article of manufacture for 15 years from the grant. (35 U.S.C. §§ 171(a), 173.) Design patents on applications filed before May 13, 2015 generally run 14 years.

This firm does not prosecute patents. I include them because owners often assume a product is patented when it is not, which changes the claims available.

Trade secret: the confidential information

A trade secret is information, such as a formula, method, process, or compilation, that has independent economic value because it is not generally known and that its owner makes reasonable efforts to keep secret. (Civ. Code, § 3426.1, subd. (d).) There is no registration and no expiration date. Protection lasts as long as the secrecy does.

The law reaches misappropriation: in general terms, acquiring, disclosing, or using the secret through improper means such as theft or breach of a duty of confidence. It does not reach a competitor who buys your product and works out how it is made. Reverse engineering and independent derivation alone are not improper means. (Civ. Code, § 3426.1, subd. (a).) Our page on what counts as a trade secret goes further.

One business, four kinds of protection

Picture a small company that bottles a hot sauce.

Its brand name and the pepper logo on the label are trademarks. The label artwork, the website copy, and the product photographs are copyrighted works. The recipe and the fermentation process, kept in a restricted file and shared only under confidentiality agreements, are trade secrets. A pour spout the founder invented is protected only if a patent was applied for and granted. The unusual bottle shape might qualify as trade dress, a branch of trademark law, if customers have come to recognize it.

Now a competitor appears. It launches a sauce with a look-alike logo, which is a trademark claim. It lifts the product descriptions and photos, which is a copyright claim. It hires the company's former production manager, who brings the recipe, and that is a trade secret claim.

Change one fact. If the competitor had bought a bottle and sent it to a lab, the recipe claim would probably disappear.

Which law fits what was copied

Match the thing taken to the law, then check the prerequisites.

• A name, logo, slogan, or the look of packaging: trademark or trade dress. You need priority of use and likely confusion, and trade dress must also be nonfunctional.
• Text, images, video, or code: copyright. You need an original work, actual copying, and, for a United States work, generally a registration before suit.
• A formula, process, price list, or customer data: trade secret. You need real secrecy measures and misappropriation, such as theft or a breach of confidence.
• How a product works, or its ornamental design: patent, and only if you hold one.
• A bare idea or business concept: none of the four by itself. A contract may fill the gap, as our page on idea theft claims explains.

Copyright and patent claims can be heard only in federal court, while trademark claims may be filed in federal or state court. (28 U.S.C. § 1338(a).) California trade secret claims can be filed in Superior Court. There is a federal option under the Defend Trade Secrets Act when the secret relates to a product or service in interstate commerce. (18 U.S.C. § 1836(b)(1), (c).) When a whole product was imitated, start with our page on what to do when a competitor copies your product.

What to bring to the first meeting

• A side-by-side of what you created and what the other side is using, with dates.
• Any registrations, applications, or patents you hold.
• Confidentiality agreements and a list of who had access to the information.

Frequently asked questions

A competitor copied my logo, my website text, and my product formula. Which of those are trademark, copyright, or trade secret problems?

The logo is a trademark issue if customers are likely to be confused, and the artwork may also be copyrighted. The website text is a copyright issue. The formula is a trade secret issue under California Civil Code section 3426.1 only if you kept it confidential and the competitor got it through improper means or a breach of confidence, not by analyzing your product.

What is the difference between a trademark and a copyright?

Under federal law, a trademark protects a name, logo, or other sign that identifies the source of goods or services, and the test for infringement is likely customer confusion. A copyright protects original creative expression such as writing, images, and code, and the test is copying of protected expression. Neither right depends on registration to exist, although a copyright in a United States work generally must be registered before a lawsuit is filed.

I have a business idea I have not launched yet. Can I trademark, copyright, or patent the idea itself?

Usually not. Federal copyright law excludes ideas, trademark rights depend on using a mark with real goods or services, and a patent requires an actual invention that meets the statutory tests. An unlaunched idea is best protected in California by keeping it confidential and by a written nondisclosure agreement before you share it.

How long do trademarks, copyrights, patents, and trade secrets last?

A trademark can last indefinitely while it is used, and federal registrations renew in ten-year periods. Copyright generally lasts for the author's life plus 70 years. A utility patent term generally ends 20 years after filing, and a design patent generally lasts 15 years from grant. A trade secret under California law lasts as long as it stays secret.

Do I have to register to be protected?

It depends on the right. Trademark and copyright protection arise without registration, but a federal copyright suit over a United States work generally cannot be filed until the work is registered. A patent exists only by government grant. Trade secrets are never registered, and California law asks instead whether you made reasonable efforts to keep the information secret.

Talk to a California intellectual property litigation attorney

If something your business built has been copied, call (909) 235-6116 or contact us online. Kolmogorov Law, P.C. is at 327 Magnet, Irvine, CA 92618, and represents businesses in Orange County, Los Angeles, and throughout California.

See our IP litigation practice page.

This page provides general information about federal and California intellectual property law and is not legal advice. Outcomes depend on what was created, how it was protected, and the court.