Any original concepts, layouts, discoveries, inventions, and creative works created by an individual or organization fall under the umbrella of intellectual property (IP). In the past, IP protection wasn’t a huge concern. However, with information being simpler to acquire and disseminate nowadays due to technology, protecting your works from copycats, thieves, and infringers has become crucial for any organization.
IP security is essential for more reasons than merely preventing the theft or duplication of your discoveries. It creates a motivation for your creations to spread and help more people without infringing on your legal rights.
The importance of intellectual property protection
Protection of intellectual property is essential for promoting innovation. Without intellectual property protection, companies and individuals would not fully profit from their creations and would devote less time to R&D. Similar to this, artists would not receive adequate payment for their works, and as a result, cultural vitality would decrease.
Effective Approaches for Intellectual Property Protection:
How can we defend against potential infringement of our intellectual property? Three of the most popular forms of IP protection are copyright, trademark, and patent. These give you the sole right to utilize your creations, especially when it comes to monetary compensation. The best approaches to safeguard intellectual property rights are as follows:
1. Register copyrights, trademarks, and Patents:
a. Copyright:
The protection of creative creations, both tangible and intangible, is provided by copyright. If you did not register the copyright, you acquire it the moment you produce something. However, if you take your time to register your work, it will be simpler to prove your ownership, particularly in a legal conflict. Depending on the type of IP, copyrights may last longer than 70 years after the creator’s passing.
b. Trademark:
They are brand names, symbols, or logos that are used to identify the goods or services of a firm. A trademark is anything that is used to distinguish a collection of items, goods, and services as coming from the same owner or source, including names, words, signatures, texts, emblems, paintings, figures, inscriptions, photographs, and advertising.
c. Patents:
Inventions—things that are special and not readily known to the general public—as well as the processes by which they operate are typically registered using patents. To secure a patent, technical details regarding the invention must be made available to the public via a patent application.
2. Keep track of your discoveries:
Additionally, it happens frequently that competitors find out about an idea through leaks and apply for a patent claiming it as their own. As a result of that, you’ll now need to demonstrate that you are the legitimate owner. This can be done by keeping a record of the evidence that shows how intellectual property rights have changed (for example, dated and signed copies of drawings and drafts).
3. Avoid Joint Ownership for Intellectual Property Rights:
Try to avoid shared intellectual property rights. The ability to use your rights is always in your best interest. Joint ownership of such rights over time may result in misunderstandings and legal problems that endanger the security of these assets, harming all parties concerned.
4. Draft Strong Non-Disclosure Agreements:
It is also a great choice to enlist the aid of a legal representative when creating the non-disclosure legal clauses, which must be precise and explicit. Always make sure that any other contracts your business uses to protect its intellectual property do so. Contracts for services, licenses, and distribution are a few examples.
5. Consult Intellectual Property Experts:
For assistance with searches and licensing, speak with a patent or trademark agent to make sure that any intellectual property you produce is properly protected. Think carefully about why you are defending it because any money spent on intellectual property is money that cannot be spent on producing, promoting, or other things. In order to prevent others from imitating you, to add value to your company in the event that you plan to sell it, to sell or license to a third party, or even to maintain it in your legal arsenal in the event that you anticipate being sued and wish to file a counterclaim.
6. Don’t share your invention until you’ve submitted a patent application:
Make sure you never disclose your concept to anyone before it has been secured. This is due to the possibility that someone else may apply for a patent before you and so obtain ownership rights to it.
7. Implement security measures:
All ideas should be stored in a safe area that is guarded by an identity and access control system. It’s crucial to keep intellectual property on a system that uses adaptive authentication with risk analysis, or at the very least two-factor authentication, given that compromised credentials are to blame for 81 percent of breaches. Passwords are no longer a reliable security measure.
8. Register business, product or domain names:
By registering the company, item, or domain name connected to your intended IP venture, you can further safeguard your ownership of it as well as your identity. Even if you’re only beginning the planning process for your firm, it will still be beneficial to reserve these names so that nobody else comes up with a similar idea and causes some confusion.
