New business owners and entrepreneurs need to get familiar with basics of IP laws. This will help them to protect their well-merited ideas and creations from unjust competition. Distinctive creations, which give the creator economic benefits are termed as intellectual property.
Business owners can take professional help from IP lawyers because submission and resubmission of IP application forms can be termed as wastage of time, especially if it is done in the wrong way. It is crucial to determine what you require to protect under IP law.
- Decide which specific protection option to choose for your creation.
- File quickly to alleviate the chance of losing protection
- Check the registered national and international patents related to your niche.
Planning successfully will help to avoid intellectual property infringement of concepts, designs, and ideas. Make sure to execute it as soon as you invent something new or start a company.
Business IP protection types
Copyright protection
Original authorship work gets protected under copyrights. It includes –
- Literary
- Dramatic
- Sculptural
- Music
- Graphic
- Pictorial
- Choreographic
- Pantomimes
- Artistic
- Sound recordings
- Software
- Architectural
Copyright protection gives holder the exclusive right to change, perform, create, distribute, copy, and display the specific copyrighted work. Copyright registration offline takes 5 to 6 months and online takes 2 to 3 months. The duration of copyrighted things last for lifetime and is non-renewable. Registered works are entitled for statutory damages and suits of copyright infringement.
Patent protection
Inventions are a must in business, so as to develop better procedures or products, which provide competitive advantage in the market. Patent holder excludes other people from using, making or selling their invention. Types of patents are –
- Design – Protects original, new and ornamental design
- Utility – Protects non-obvious, novel, and useful invention
- Plant – Gives protection to new a sexually grown plant variety
Patent needs to be filed within a year of releasing in public setting or else someone will use it. Patent process takes six years, so it is wise to hire qualified patent lawyer or agent.
Trademark protection
Trademark needs to be individual. It can be in the form of design, symbol, phrase, and word. Trademark registration enables you to enforce rights easily. Investigate the state and federal databases to verify that no similar trademark exists. On approval, entrepreneurs can legally add registered trademark symbol.
Trade secret protection
Companies possess process, formula, applications, device, or other data which is confidential. It gives their business an edge on their competition. Trade secret examples are consumer database, cleansing solution formula, software algorithms, or survey results.
Trade secrets cannot be registered like other intellectual property. The protection will last only till the business owner takes cautious steps to use information and control disclosure agreement.
Security practices businesses commonly used are non-disclosure agreement, post-employment restrictive contract, limited access to private information and more to control trade secrets.
Intellectual property protection cost is heavy and time-consuming. Therefore, make sure that the money and time invested is worthy.