Your intellectual property: Understand and protect it!
As the owner of intellectual property you have two basic rights: the right to exploit the value of your property and the right to keep others from doing so. IP law does not protect the idea in your head. Be wary of sharing your ideas. An attorney can help you use contracts to ensure that you are sharing your ideas in a way that preserves your opportunities to create valuable intellectual property.
EXPLORING INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
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TRADEMARK
A trademark is simply a way for consumers to identify the source of the goods and services they purchase. It can be words, a symbol, a shape, even a color. Once you register it only certain variations are protected without additional registrations. Without federal registration your protection is geographically more limited. Some marks are weaker and difficult to protect. An attorney can explain the strengths and weaknesses BEFORE you spend a lot of money on labels, signage, packaging, etc.!
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COPYRIGHT
Copyright protects your creative product that is not the subject of patent. You own the copyright in your work as soon as you have created it. However, registration is required to bring an effective action against an infringer, and registration may allow you to collect attorney’s fees and other compensation by law! If you paid someone to have something created other issues come up; be sure to ask!
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PATENT
A patent gives you exclusive, but temporary, rights to decide who gets to make your invention or follow your process. In exchange for this temporary monopoly you share your creation with the public. There are different types of patents and there are critical time lines involved! Discuss this with an attorney EARLY so that you don’t miss out! (Don’t feel like sharing? Check out TRADE SECRET!)
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TRADE SECRET
You can keep your process or invention to yourself forever (as opposed to the limited time of a patent or copyright) but you have to make sure it stays SECRET! If you don’t take reasonable steps to keep your trade secret you may loose your protection. Oh, and reverse engineering is fair game here (not so with a PATENT)!
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LICENSING
Even creative product you want to share freely with the world will involve licensing! (for attribution if nothing else) Of course, if you are looking to make money when someone else uses your IP then licensing will be critical! Licensing needs to be done carefully not just so that you get paid, but so that you also maintain control of your IP!
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~THE INTERNET ~
Even if your business isn’t “eCommerce” you will be on the Internet. Acts like the DMCA, GDPR and CCPA, and COPPA will be important. You will likely have licensing agreements (EULA), and privacy and policy issues. This gets more complex the more you sell to or interact with your customers on the Internet. Don’t leave this to chance; protect it.