How To Protect Your Intellectual Property

By Author: Bob Schuster
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Intellectual property, often abbreviated IP, includes designs, logos, original articles, inventions and commercial (or "trade") secrets. These are things that you, your employees or someone you paid to do "work for hire" created that are (a) uniquely yours and (b) the source of income or other "economic benefit." You figure out how to protect your intellectual property based on what kind it is how it is used.

Copyrights are probably the best known of the ways we protect IP today. A copyright is granted to original "works of authorship" that are "fixed in a tangible medium." This means photographs, sound and visual recordings, plays, books, stories, dramatic works and even software. As soon as you "fix" the creation in a physical medium, your copyright protection begins. Registering your copyright is not a means of obtaining a copyright, which you already have by creating the work, but it comes in very handy when you need to prove the work is yours. If you start using the copyright symbol (©) right away, you are essentially informing people that the work is yours and that intend to control its performance, display ...
... or distribution.

Inventions, processes and products

Many businesses succeed based exclusively on your great, new and improved inventions that are unique and useful. Without a patent to protect your interests, anyone can benefit from your work. Having a patent helps you prevent others from using, copying or selling your invention for a certain period of years depending on what kind it is. Getting a patent can be complicated, and it is usually a good idea to have an attorney with experience in doing so.

If you have a business where you are inventing things on an ongoing basis, you need to clarify up front who owns the inventions. It could be the business, you as the owner, an employee or group of them, or some combination of these. It will all depend on the type of work and the pre-existing agreement that is made. Agreements should be written out and signed, and you should once again get advice from a good lawyer if you are uncertain as to any of the details.

Preventing confusion and fraud

Businesses must be prepared to protect other forms of IP as well. Trademarks, for example, protect the name of a product and keep other firms from selling something with the same name. Unique names that identify your firm and/or product in particular, as opposed to all the others in the world, are valuable in and of themselves. This is why trademark law is a consumer protection, as well, since it prevents others from confusing or defrauding consumers by using the exact same (or even very close) name as your product.

Servicemarks are similar to trademarks, but deal (as the name suggests) with services rather than products. Being the inventor and first user of a name is certainly important for protecting your ongoing rights to the name, but filing the servicemark is very important if you need to enforce your claim and prove your ownership. A trademark or servicemark search is the first step in this process, and is critically important because it could save you from putting a lot of time, money and energy into promoting a name that someone else is already using. An IP attorney is once again an important part of the process.

Bottom line reminders

Remember that you own your creations, whatever kind they are, from the moment you create them. Registering a copyright or getting a patent is important, though, because then you can prove when (and sometimes how and why) you created what you did. This not only protects you and your rights, it makes for a more orderly marketplace and keeps consumers safer and better informed, as well.

You can do a lot of good research about IP law, and do yourself a great deal of good by doing it, too. For blogs and simple articles, you may not need to retain an attorney, but when it comes to inventions, processes or services that your company (and your living) depends on, getting a good IP lawyer is certainly not an extravagance. Use your head, of course, but if things are more involved and start to get confusing, then it is probably wise to use someone else's head, too. You can contact the bar association in your state or locale to get a list of good IP attorneys and other specialists.
About Author:
The law offices of Bob Schuster, P.C. specialize in commercial litigation, brain injury, intellectual property infringement and carbon monoxide poisoning cases. For more information on intellectual property infringement, commercial litigation and how you can get what you deserve, visit online today.