What is intellectual property and 3 key questions about it?
Intellectual property, including patents, copyrights, trademarks, design rights, and registered designs. Some intellectual property rights (such as patents, trademarks, and registered designs) require a formal registration process by the owner with the Intellectual Property Office, in order to grant protection and monopoly rights to the owner. Others, such as copyright and design rights, arise automatically at the time of creation, but do not protect against independent creation by a third party, only against copying.
Of course, IP rights only protect the expression of ideas, not the ideas themselves, as a first step it is important that adequate confidentiality provisions are put in place to ensure that discussions during the different parties are protected from the start. and undisclosed.
IP rights differ in terms of duration and procedures, but the effect is to ensure that the owner has the exclusive right to use and decide how those rights are used and exploited, and to prevent any other party from using the same rights.
Patents protect an invention that is new, novel and has an industrial application. This, in turn, allows the patent holder to use the invention to streamline their business processes, gain a competitive advantage, or increase their revenue, by licensing or selling the patent to a third party.
Copyright protects original literary works (eg, instruction manuals, computer programs), dramatic, musical, or artistic works (eg, logos, maps, technical drawings, diagrams, photographs, works of architecture). The copyright owner is the first author of the copyrighted work. So if you hire consultants or subcontractors to write a report or conduct a survey or produce your website or piece of software, that party owns the copyright, even if they paid for it. However, copyright does not protect ideas.
The brand is a sign that can distinguish the goods or services of one trader from those of another. A sign includes words, logos, images, or a combination of these. A sign to be registered must be distinctive, not misleading and not identical or similar to any previous mark for the same or similar products or services. Remember that the simple registration of your company in the Mercantile Registry does not guarantee the protection of your brand. Also, if you have a website, you can consider registering the trademark as a domain name and vice versa.
A Registered Design is a monopoly right over the appearance of all or part of a product, resulting from the characteristics of lines, contours, colors, shape, texture, product materials or its ornamentation. The design must be new and have an individual character.
On the other hand, design law applies to original, uncommon designs of shape or configuration of products. There is no need for registration and it avoids the copyright of third parties, without the permission of the owner.
A company must always be aware of when and how intellectual property is created, in order to take all necessary measures for its protection and exploitation. This means that employment contracts must have adequate provisions, dealing with the creation of intellectual property, and commissioned works must be protected by appropriate contracts, which grant the intellectual property to the company commissioning the work.
But once a company has identified its intellectual property, what does it do next?
1. A company must manage its intellectual property portfolio
• Intellectual property is, as we have seen, made up of various rights and can be expensive to maintain and protect. In an economic downturn, it is crucial to review the strategy behind an IP portfolio to maximize its value and save costs.
• A business should review and decide whether it is necessary to maintain all patent, trademark, domain name and design registrations, and consider abandoning any registrations that are secondary to business needs or not necessary. be. profitable to maintain.
• Even though some IP assets may not have direct value to the business, they can still be licensed or assigned to third parties, for a hefty fee.
2. Capture and maximize value
• A company’s knowledge, ideas and confidential information are valuable assets, often created at significant cost to the company. Instituting and enforcing effective policies for the capture and retention of innovative ideas, trade secrets, and inventions can often lead to increased business value and direct business benefits, which are particularly important in a more financially challenging environment.
• It is also possible to file patent applications, which adds additional tangible value.
• It is also important to maintain a framework of policies and contracts to protect against the misuse of intellectual property rights by staff members, particularly departing employees, who may have access to software code, lists of customers or research and development material.
3. Monitor violations and enforce your rights
• Intellectual property infringement or other unauthorized use can severely impact its business value. It is important to review existing systems for monitoring infringements (eg trademark watchdog services) and review the strategy for taking action against infringers.
• Taking proactive steps to enforce your intellectual property rights may also create an opportunity to recover lost license revenue through liquidated damages or settlements. Conversely, failure to act to prevent and address intellectual property infringement may result in loss of license rights and royalties.
• Similarly, being aware of your competitors’ intellectual property assets and implementing authorization policies for new products or services helps avoid unwanted and costly infringement lawsuits.
This article is for general and guidance purposes only and does not constitute legal or professional advice.