What is the basic difference between patent, copyright, and trademark protection?

• A. Patent protects brand names; copyright protects inventions; trademark protects literature.
• B. Patent protects inventions; copyright protects original works of authorship; trademark protects source identifiers and brand names.
• C. Patent protects ideas in the mind; copyright protects ideas; trademark protects process methods.
• D. Patent protects artwork; copyright protects patents; trademark protects royalty rights.

Answer: (B)

The core idea here is what each form of protection covers in intellectual property: patents guard functional inventions, copyrights shield original expressive works, and trademarks protect the identifiers that show the source of goods or services.

The correct concept is that patents protect inventions; copyrights protect original works of authorship; trademarks protect source identifiers and brand names. A patent covers new and useful inventions, processes, machines, or compositions of matter, giving the inventor exclusive rights to make, use, or sell the invention for a limited time. Copyright protects the actual expression of an idea—like books, music, software, paintings—once it's fixed in a tangible form, not the underlying idea itself. Trademarks safeguard things that help consumers identify the origin of a product or service, such as brand names, logos, and slogans, and they can last as long as they are in use and properly renewed.

The other options misstate these relationships. For example, brand names aren’t what patents protect, and copyrights don’t cover inventions or brand identifiers in the way trademarks do; copyrights protect expression, not ideas themselves. Patents don’t protect ideas in the mind, nor do they cover artwork in the sense that copyrights do.