Often businesses or individuals have a unique idea which they don’t want others to discover or use. Thus, they look for legal protection of that idea or intellectual property. Seeking legal protection makes them the rightful owner and prevents the misuse of property by others.
Having Intellectual Property Protection help to boost the economy and stimulate innovation in the future. Professionals looking to protect their intellectual property can seek assistance from an attorney who can walk them through the process to seek protection and avoid illegal use of their creative ideas, skills, and artwork.
Types of Intellectual Property Protection
Below we cover the 4 main types of intellectual-property protection areas a specialist in this field can help your business with. It is definitely worth getting a professional company to handle each of these points on your business’s behalf to ensure that your organisation has all the bases covered!
1. Patents
According to USPTO (U.S Patent and Trademark Office), businesses can seek patent rights for their inventions that are not known or will help to develop or improve their existing processes such as the machine, article of manufacture, or composition of matter. Once the owner gets the patents for intellectual property, it prevents others from using the product or evening making a sale. Onsist helps brands to seek Intellectual Property Protection against online piracy. With 24*7 web monitoring, the company helps to detect the copyrighted content, report it and then delete illegal copies of work.
2. Copyrights
Copyrights are often juxtaposed with Patents. But both the terms are not the same. Copyright is done for intellectual property, which includes artistic, literary work, or music composition. Copyright is automated and is given the moment the work is initiated. If you ever face a Copyright Infringement where someone makes illegal use of your creative work, you can send them a DMCA Takedown Notice.
3. TradeMarks
As patents protect your invention and copyrights protect your artistic or creative work, companies often seek trademarks for symbols, words, or phrases.
For instance, the symbol of “Nike,” which we all know, is a perfect example of a trademark. The brand logo is exclusively used by Nike and cannot be used by others. Though it is not mandatory to get a trademark but having one can provide additional benefits.
4. Trade Secrets
Any information that makes your business outperform your competitors and position you as market leader is called Trade Secret. If the same information gets used by some other organisation, it can do incalculable harm. Hence the businesses seek trade secret protection, so others can’t steal or copy their idea. For example – the formula of Coco-Cola, a renowned beverage brand is said only to be known by a few people.
Wrapping Up Intellectual property protection
To avoid having another company or individual copy your business’s ideas, it is always recommended that you seek help from an intellectual property protection expert. These professionals will make sure your business is fully covered and also help your business in times where you believe someone has copied your ideas and is trying to pass them off as their own. The 4 key areas your business can get help are Patents, Copyright laws, trademarks, and trade secrets!
