Intellectual property has become one of the hottest topics in the technology era. One has to be careful in talking about their idea. It is very common for ideas to be stolen and earned from in the present day society. It is important to understand how to get a trademark or a copyright for one's idea or products before entering the market.

What is Trademark and Copyright?

Trademark and copyright are legal ways of protecting one’s intellectual property in the age of technology. The concept Trademark is to assign an identity to a product through the use of a logo or words which will help give a legal identity to it. Having a trademark will prevent the use of a similar logo or words from being used by anyone else for the sale of products and ideas.  Copyright on the other hand gives a legal protection to the work from being used without consent. A concept can only be copyrighted and not trademarked. But a specific name or logo assigned to the work can be trademarked. 

A trademark is valid for 10 years after which it needs to be renewed while a copyright registration is valid for 60 years.

How does Copyright and patents help students?

India has the highest number of students in the world but even then the number of student initiated innovations are low. There are various reasons such as lack of awareness, funding, expert opinion,etc which can lead to such measures. In an effort to help overcome the issue there are certain companies that have agreed to provide free services to the students. These services are related to the matters concerning the legal formalities of copyrighting, patent of an idea,etc. This will help in the rise of newer ideas and startups as it will reduce the pressure on the students in dealing with the financial and legal formalities in certain cases. It aims at uncovering the true potentials of the students so that there can be a growth of student led innovations.

This effort to help the students will lead to the rise in startups in india. It will give birth to new ideas and technologies without unnecessary hunderence. Not only will it reduce the pressure on the students but will provide them with the necessary push needed to move forward. Ideas often get buried due to the lack of knowledge or the high price of legal formalities. Thus providing a small amount of help in the two major areas of finance and legal formalities will be of great significance.

Conclusion

Intellectual property needs the utmost protection as there are no physical indicators of whose idea or work it is. It has thus become of utmost importance to provide a copyright or patent to an idea as soon as possible so that others can not earn from one’s idea. It will help promote transparency and a legal ground for the use. This will also help in increasing the number of startups and student led innovations.