Legal Glossary of Terms
Service Mark
A service mark is similar to a trademark, except that it is the phrase generally used to identify a source of a product or service rather than the product itself. Like a trademark, it may be a word, symbol, design or any combination of these elements.
Trademark
A trademark serves to identify a good or service, and to distinguish that good or service from others. The trademark may be a word, several words (such as a slogan), a design, symbol, graphic or any combination of these elements.
Copyright
Copyright refers to laws that regulate the use of the work of a creator, such as an artist or author.
Work-for-Hire
Work-for-hire refers to the situations in which a creator of a work does not retain the rights to that work. By default, and artist or designer owns the copyright to his or her work. Work-for-hire includes two exceptions to that rule.