Our society is increasingly based on information. Because of this, the ability to protect and benefit from original intellectual property becomes increasingly important to the professionals involved: writers, photographers, software engineers, inventors, and cottage industries.
If you have intellectual property (IP) that you want to protect, you may be wondering exactly how to do it. There are four main ways to protect intellectual property: trademarks, patents, copyrights, and trade secrets. Read on to find out which IP protection would work best for you.
Trademarks: A trademark is a mark that distinguishes one company from another, such as a name, phrase, logo, symbol, image, or a combination of any of these elements. A trademark can also include a jingle or sound. Recently, trademarks have come to include a variety of digital and electronic images.
Patents: Patents are intellectual property rights that protect an invention. Inventions must be novel and not obvious. A patent has a limited lifespan. In addition to patenting inventive devices, scientific discoveries can also be patented. For example, seeds and genetically modified organisms are now patented. However, the Supreme Court recently ruled that medical companies cannot patent natural human genes or DNA, although they can patent DNA that they create synthetically in the laboratory.
Copyright: Copyright protects literature, music, and other creative works. Protect any information or ideas that are discreet and substantive. A copyright gives the owner the privilege of being credited for the work. It also grants the copyright holder the right to:
Determine who can do the work.
Decide who can benefit financially from the job.
If the work can be adapted to other forms and who can adapt it.
Copyrights protect work only for a limited period of time. Copyrights taken before 1978 are limited to 95 years. Those taken after 1978 last for the life of the holder plus seventy years, or seventy years from the publication of the work.
Trade secrets: Trade secrets are another form of intellectual property protection that can cover:
Formula
Design
Process or practice
Information gathering
Instrument or pattern
Instead of obtaining a patent, copyright, or trademark, a trade secret is protected by employee confidentiality. Employees must sign non-compete clauses that prevent them from working with competitors in the future. They must also sign a nondisclosure clause that prevents them from revealing business secrets to others. The benefit of a trade secret is that its protection does not have a limited period of time, like a patent.
The approach you take to protect your intellectual property largely depends on the type of property it is and the benefit you are seeking by protecting it. If you are seriously looking for a trademark, trade secret, patent, or copyright, you should consider speaking with an intellectual property attorney. Also called trademark law, an attorney who specializes in this field can ensure that you choose the right type of protection, are prepared to successfully file your trademark or patent, or can help you draft non-compete and nondisclosure clauses. that are legally sound. and effective for your employees.
How you protect your intellectual property can be very important in the future. Starting off with the best foot forward is important, even if you don’t fully understand trademark laws. An attorney can help you determine the best way to protect your intellectual property in the long term.