Intellectual property is the ownership of ideas for your business; it's a collection of your ideas and concepts. Like other property owned by your business, intellectual property can be an extremely valuable asset. There are four main types of intellectual property for business owners to be concerned with: copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets and patents. If any of the four are relevant to your business you should take the necessary steps to protect the IP.
- Copyrights
Copyrights are exclusive legal rights that protect works of authorship, composition or artistry. One benefit of copyrights is that protection is pretty straight forward. Protection is created from the work is fixed in a "tangible form of expression" - so once it's written down, recorded or transcribed the copyright is automatically secured. Copyrights can also be registered with the U.S. Copyright Office (although not required) in order to better protect the owners rights; registering allows the owner to sue for infringement and recover damages.
- Trademarks
A trademark is a design, symbol, word or phrase that identifies your company as the source of a product or service. Businesses commonly trademark their name, a product name, a logo or a symbol/design that represents the company. In order to best protect a trademark, registering with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is advisable.
- Trade Secrets
Almost every business has some trade secrets - valuable business information that is not known to the general public. Common examples are business plans, business methods, pricing information, product or service information, business relationships and business processes. If you own a business, these are some of your most valuable assets and you should take steps to protect that information. Trade secrets can be protected by conducting a risk assessment, using confidentiality agreements, policies and procedures, training staff on handling trade secrets and constantly reviewing and correcting policies where necessary. The idea is to be proactive.
- Patents
Patents provide a business with exclusive rights for making, using or selling a concept or invention. Patents are granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office, and owning one gives a business the right to stop someone else from making, using or selling your invention without your approval. The two main types of patents are design patents (to protect the appearance of an invention) and utility patents (to protect the function of an invention).
Basically, every business has some form of IP, and since IP is a valuable asset businesses should not overlook the importance of protecting that asset.