Trademark	Copyright	Patent	Trade secret
Source of law	Federal & state	Federal	Federal	Generally state
Rights upon	Use in commerce	OWOA fixed in tangible medium	Registration	While remains TS w/ reasonable security meas.
Disclosure	None (though applications and registrations are public)	None (though registrations are listed in CR Office database)	Prior art, drawings, claims, etc., published.	General public disclosure can lead to loss of trade secret
Term	As long as used in commerce; registrations for 10 years	Varies, LOA + 70 years	20 years for utility patent	As long as still a TS
Registration	No/benefits	No/benefits	Required	No
Functional	Defeats TM	Defeats CR	A requirement	TS covers information, which includes functional matter
Delay in filing	Can still register	Can still register	May lose (statutory bar)	N/A
Independent creation	No defense if LOC	Is absolute defense	US AIA : “first inventor to file”	Independent parties can have TS
Copying	May lead to presumption or inference of LOC	Is an element of direct copyright infringement	Subsequent inventors may write “blocking” patents	Unauthorized acquisition is prohibited, but reverse engineering may be ok.