What is Intellectual Property?
Copyright. Trademark. Patent.
What the heck is IP?
Intellectual property (IP) is the property of your mind or proprietary knowledge. Basically, the productive new ideas you create. It can be an invention, trademark, design, brand, or the application of your idea.
Intellectual Property (IP) include:
Copyrights
Patents
Trademarks
Trade Secrets
When starting a business there are some ‘business-y’ terms you should be familiar with. Copyright and trademarks are two of those kinda hard to fully grasp meanings.
BEFORE WE BEGIN: Some people confuse Copyright with Copywriting. These are completely different. A COPYWRITER is a professional who writes copy. Simple! Good, now that we got that out of the way…
Something that has copyright means the piece of work, copy, graphic, digital or physical element cannot be distributed for commercial use (and sometimes personal) without the consent of the copyright owner.
Intellectual Property is your ideas. What you create that is specific or has come from you. In business, this would be your trademark, logo, phrases or certain colours that you use.
If someone was to steal your idea and you can prove that this idea or concept came from you originally then there are measures that can be taken to protect your intellectual property.
Before launching your business or new product/service, consider what your IP might be, should you need protection from plagiarism affecting your business.
Australia’s Chief Economist stated that ownership of patents, trademarks and designs is strongly and positively associated with firm profitability. Their research found out that there is a significant impact overall of IP rights on market concentration or competition in Australia, suggesting that the system serves its purpose in incentivising innovation without dampening competition. You can view the full report here.
What are your Intellectual Properties as a business? Have you looked into what you can legally protect and what you will have to be mindful of?
Breaching IP is not only copying a post that someone has written. Breaching IP is claiming the post was written by you and only you, along with profiting off the post. Make sense? Copyright is important because it protects your copy from other people or brands profiting off your words or phrases.
Trademarks can be expensive but worth the investment over the years; especially if you are in business for the long game. Do you have a name that only your business would like to use? How many Doves do you know? There is Dove skincare but there is also Dove chocolates. Both brands would have had to trademark their names to avoid confusion between the two; it does help if you don’t have the same market share in the global economy.
A patent is known for sometimes costing thousands, if not millions of dollars, to protect an idea, invention or process in which you uniquely do something. You can patent a shade of black if the formula is unique. This is something worth considering especially if you are in the manufacturing or food/beverage industry.
Like anything you have to be diligent when it comes to protecting your Unique Selling Propositions (USP) to the world. Is it worth going to court to defend something you’ve created? Absolutely. Arm yourself and your Legal/Finance team with information across the board on how to safely protect your business intellectual property.
BEFORE YOU GO! 5 #HotTips
Keep it confidential until everything is approved and registered.
Be money mindful and track your costs associated with and expected once you have your IP legally protected.
Know your market! Understand where you are placing your product or service in the global economy.
Stay savvy by keeping a watchful eye to make sure you don’t breach any IP in your business.
Understand your business IP, you might be sitting on a goldmine and don’t know. Always seek professional advice.
Definitions:
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY:
“Intellectual property (IP) is the property of your mind or proprietary knowledge. Basically, the productive new ideas you create. It can be an invention, trademark, design, brand, or the application of your idea.”
TRADEMARKS:
“A trademark is a sign capable of distinguishing the goods or services of one enterprise from those of other enterprises. Trademarks date back to ancient times when artisans used to put their signature or "mark" on their products.”
PATENTS:
A patent is an exclusive right granted for an invention. Generally speaking, a patent provides the patent owner with the right to decide how - or whether - the invention can be used by others. In exchange for this right, the patent owner makes technical information about the invention publicly available in the published patent document.”
COPYRIGHT:
“Copyright is a legal term used to describe the rights that creators have over their literary and artistic works. Works covered by copyright range from books, music, paintings, sculpture and films, to computer programs, databases, advertisements, maps and technical drawings.”