Frequently Asked Questions About Intellectual Property
- What is intellectual property?
- Why intellectual property?
- What should be done to protect your intellectual property rights?
- How intellectual property rights work
What is intellectual property?
Intellectual Property is the umbrella, or over-arching name given to describe trademarks, copyrights, patents and trade secrets. A trademark is a word, logo, or combination of both that signifies that a good or service originated from a single source. A copyright is a right that a person has in their original work of authorship. A patent is used to protect a new invention. A trade secret is any information that a business holds secret that, if disclosed to their competition, would provide a competitive advantage.
Why intellectual property?
Many companies view securing their intellectual property assets to be yet another cost. What many companies do not realize, is that intellectual property rights are assets on the books of any company, and like some other assets, they may be sold, licensed and leveraged for the financial gain of the company.
What should be done to protect your intellectual property rights?
First, the asset must be identified. Is the asset a party seeks to protect an invention, a written work, lyrics, a brand name? Once the asset is identified, the correct means of protection may be identified: trademark, copyright, patent, trade secret, or a combination of these. If a party seeks trademark protection for their word or logo, a trademark search should be conducted and if clear, an application filed. A trademark attorney is in the best position to assess risk of opposition to use or registration by another party. If a party seeks copyright protection, the author or party who hired the author may apply to register an original work with the U.S. Copyright Office. If a party seeks to obtain patent protection on its invention, it is best to hire a patent attorney to conduct a patent search and if clear, file a patent application. A trade secret is not registered anywhere but instead speaks more to how a business is run and how the secret is maintained within the corporate practices. A company can review how to best utilize a trade secret with an attorney. Protection of intellectual property rights goes far beyond what is written here, and with the help of an IP attorney, a company may effectively identify, protect, enforce and maintain its intellectual property.
How intellectual property rights work
The rules are different for trademarks, copyrights and patents. However, generally, the first to use and/or protect their invention, logo, written works or other intellectual property asset is the party that most often has "priority" over others. Taking correct steps to protect intellectual property assets is key in effective enforcement against others.