Trademarks are words or symbols distinguishing a product and its manufacturer. Trademark protection typically lasts indefinitely. Copyrights give creators of original works the right to publish or dispose of them as they choose. Copyrights are protected either under the Berne Convention and the 1954 Universal Copyright Convention . More than 50 countries abide by one or both of these two treaties.
Most countries have product safety laws that lay down standards to be met by manufactured products.
Product liability holds manufacturers, sellers, and others, including individual company officers, responsible for damage, injury, or death caused by defective products. The United States has the toughest product liability laws in the world, with Europe a close second. Tax revenues are used to pay government salaries, to build military capacity, and to shift earnings from people with high incomes to the poor. Consumption taxes are indirect taxes, which help pay for the consequences of using a particular product and to make imports more expensive. Gasoline taxes to pay for road and bridge repair.