Every business needs to protect its financial assets as well as its inventions, commercial designs, images and signs, creative works, and the product and business name itself. The business also needs to protect its intellectual property (IP) because such matters all form the business and contribute to its potentials and advantage against other business and competitors.
Intellectual property is any artistic works, innovation, name, sign, symbol, design or logo that is used commercially. It can be protected by trademark, patent, copyright and trade secret.
Trademark
Trademarks are represented by the symbol “™”. These are commercial source indicators, signs, symbols or pictures used by a business enterprise or an individual to identify the source of merchandise or the origin of the product, and to determine it exclusively from others.
The primary purpose of trademark is to avoid uncertainties and confusions among consumers regarding the product’s source. Hence, it is very important that a company should have a registered trademark and renew it when it expired.
Patents
A patent is the grant of property right to an inventor, issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). In general, the term of patent is 20 years from the date of application.
Patent gives the right to an inventor to exclude others from making, offering sale, using, importing or selling the invention. If the patent was already issued, the patentee should enforce the patent without aid of the USPTO.
Copyright
Copyright is a form of protection granted to the authors of original works of authorship such as literary, musical, dramatic, artistic and certain other intellectual works, both published and unpublished.
As the 1976 Copyright Act states, the owner of the copyright has exclusive right to reproduce, to distribute copies, to prepare derivative works, to perform or to display the copyrighted work publicly.
Copyright protects the form of expression rather than the subject matter of the writing. Copyrights are registered by the Copyright Office of the Library of Congress.
Trade Secrets
Trade secrets are any information or documents that are considered precious and valuable. Unlike patents, these are protected without registration and are rather protected without any procedural formalities.
Trade secrets can also be protected for an unlimited period of time. It may continue for an indefinite period, as long as the secret is not revealed in public. Additionally, trade secrets have no registration costs.
Mostly, business owners prohibit access to trade secrets or its usage because it brings a lot of advantages to the business.
Protecting Business against Intellectual Property Theft
Intellectual property theft may affect the business. Thus, intellectual property protection is very vital because it gives exclusive rights and authority to business owners, and prevents other companies from unauthorized uses.
The first step in protecting business from IP theft is to apply it for protection. Owners should also assess and must have an inventory of the intellectual property, then check to see what needs trademark, patent, copyright or trade secret status.
Once known what IP the business has, the business owner should search out for companies or other businesses, with the same product or services, who encountered IP problems to avoid experiencing the same.
Knowing business partners and assuring that they also have intellectual property protection is also important, as well as having cost analysis to know what IP measures is suitable to the business.
Any business establishment or owner of the property has the right to file a claim or lawsuit against intellectual property violations and infringements. Hence, it is very important to be registered.
For more information about intellectual property and other issues, you can contact our able and competent lawyers. Dial our toll-free-numbers and avail our free case assessment. http://www.attorneyservicesetc.com/Business-Law.html
Source: http://www.ArticlePros.com/author.php?Darren Agaton
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