Do I need a Trademark, Copyright, Both, or Something Else?

[adare]

I'm working with a small start-up production company on the pilot for a show. As creator of the premise of the show, which do I need to retain ownership of my intellectual property? Thanks!

[westbroc90]

What you need is a contract which clearly specifies your ownership of copyright and trademark in any creative works you contribute, to the extent permitted by law, and massive compensation for any rights you are not allowed to retain. For instance, you can't own the trademark of something you're not actually selling, but they can pay your ROYALTIES forever for the use of your ideas...

[aswynn81]

Nope.

"As creator of the premise of the show" Creating the premise of the show gives you nothing.

As an example. I can create a show where men in space ships visit a different planet every episode. They fight aliens, and the captain is brave and handsome and gets all the girls. None of that breaks any copyright.

As soon as I say "captain Kirk" "Spock" "Star fleet" then I've broken copyright laws. Just the premise gets you nothing.

But I know very little about copyrights, so I could be completely wrong.