A trademark protects anything that distinguishes goods or services as belonging to a specific company, such as a logo or a tagline. Copyrights protect written material, while patents protect an invention or idea. All of these aspects fall under intellectual property (IP), a specific branch of business law.
IP can be a complicated area, especially if a business hasn’t laid down clear protections before a problem arises. The simple answer is you should worry about IP when you have IP that can be stolen, plagiarized, or profited by without your consent. If you’re worried about copyrights, patents, or trademarks, contact a lawyer to get the legal protection you need; better safe than sorry!