You may be looking to understand how to protect intellectual property and how to guard yourself, as a business owner, against intellectual property theft.
You may be looking to understand how to protect intellectual property and how to guard yourself, as a business owner, against intellectual property theft. If so, this article will be helpful to you!
Guest post by Christopher Heer
What Is Intellectual Property?
Intellectual property (IP) refers to creations of the mind, including:
- Literary and artistic works
- Designs
- Brands
- Utilitarian inventions
Determining the value of your IP and leveraging it to grow your business is incredibly important in a knowledge-based economy.
The five main types of IP are:
- Copyright
- Trademarks
- Patents
- Industrial designs
- Trade secrets
Even if these legal terms seem unfamiliar, intellectual property is everywhere. Copyright protects artistic ingenuity and the integrity of the creator’s work and includes:
- Novels
- Plays
- Films
- Music
- Photographs
Just about any creative medium you can think of.
Trademarks are an image, word, phrase, or other distinctive sign that identifies and communicates to a prospective consumer the source of a product or service.
Patents are predominantly associated with science and technology and protect things like:
- Pharmaceuticals
- Nutritional supplements
- New computer technology
- Mechanical inventions
Industrial designs are the aesthetic features of products that are produced in bulk, while trade secrets are, as the name implies, any information that is not disclosed to the public and is kept confidential within a business.
What Intellectual Property Can Do For You
Imagine this:
You are a local fashion designer with a growing business. A few years ago, you signed a contract with a well-known commercial retailer to start carrying your most popular and sought-after clothing in their stores.
However, when you go to the retailer’s location to see how your products are selling, you are dismayed to find nearly identical clothing made of a cheaper fabric and marked at a lower price displayed right next to yours. You fear that customers will see the lower price and not immediately recognize the lower quality of the product, causing them to purchase the newer imitation brand rather than your own genuine products.
Understand this:
Applying for IP protection is instrumental in ensuring market competitors do not use your IP for their own gain. IP rights provide an exclusive market territory that other entities are not allowed to enter.
When imitators look to manufacture and sell products that infringe on this exclusive territory, it is important to act fast to mitigate any resulting damages. When consumers see and purchase imitation products under the impression that they are genuine, you directly lose income from lost sales.
Businesses are also damaged indirectly by IP infringement through the depreciation of the business’s public reputation, also known as the business’s goodwill. Depreciation of goodwill occurs when consumers purchase imitator products of lower quality and then lose confidence in a genuine brand because those imitation products fail to meet the client’s expectations of the genuine products.
Protecting And Enforcing Your IP Rights
Intellectual property is a business asset and understanding how to protect and enforce your IP rights is paramount in growing any knowledge-based business.
One way of doing this, is to think proactively and protect your IP before a problem arises. This is done by registering your IP with a government agency, like the US Patent and Trademark Office in the US or the Canadian Intellectual Property Office in Canada.
Pay certain prescribed fees to ensure your IP rights are officially recognized as protected and belonging to you. The benefits of registration are two-fold:
- Obtaining the exclusive right to use your IP
- Acting as a warning to any would-be infringers that your IP rights are protected and you have a legal tool to enforce those rights through courts of law
Sometimes, registration is not enough of a deterrent for ill-intending competitors and infringement occurs, leading to an IP dispute. In the event of a dispute, registration can act as easy evidence of title to the IP in issue. In turn, expediting legal proceedings that incur lower costs in proving ownership and consuming less of your time that would otherwise be spent operating and growing your business.
Generating Money From Your IP
IP rights can be used to generate revenue via licensing agreements or to obtain loans through their use as security. Since IP protection affords exclusive territory, contracts can be used to allow parties other than the IP owner to enter the otherwise exclusive territory in exchange for royalties, or other valuable consideration.
Alternatively, if you are looking to secure additional funding to grow your business, registered IP rights can be pledged as security for some forms of loans.
About The Author
Christopher Heer is the owner and founder of Heer Law. He is an intellectual property lawyer, registered patent agent, registered trademark agent, and is also certified as a specialist in intellectual property law (patent) by the Law Society of Ontario. He believes that intellectual property rights add tremendous value to businesses by enabling them to raise capital, build asset value, and grow faster under the protection that these exclusive rights give them. Connect with him on LinkedIn.
Co-authored with Dominic Cerilli.
18 Replies
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Intellectual property can do a lot for businesses, from helping to protect intellectual property to generate new ideas and products. Depending on the type of intellectual property, it can also provide financial benefits, such as royalties and licensing fees.
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Hi there, You make some good points. All businesses could benefit from royalties and licensing fees … but not many strive to achieve this. Thank you for adding value to this article about intellectual property and business growth. ~Keri
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Thank you for quite an informational post. Intellectual property law is so complex that it is quite easy to find yourself in breach before you even recognise it. To avoid this situation, we need to spend a little time understanding what Intellectual Property is all about.
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Dr. Hassan, You make some very good points, and I agree that we should work to understand before we leap. At the same time, there are many out there knowingly infringing, and that should also be considered. 🙂 Thank you for your kind words, ~Keri
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Very efficiently written information. It will be beneficial to anybody who utilizes it, including me. Keep up the good work. For sure i will check out more posts. This site seems to get a good amount of visitors.
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Charles, Glad you like this article on intellectual property and feel it will be helpful to yourself and others. Please feel free to explore our content. We update the blog frequently with insights for business owners, marketing managers and mobile entrepreneurs. Thank you for your kind words, ~Keri
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What a nice explaination about intellectual property. I will share with my friends this kind of information. Thanks a lot Keri Jaehnig for your another words.
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Charles, Glad you like this article and feel it worthy to share with your friends. We update the blog frequently with insights for business owners, marketing managers and mobile entrepreneurs. Feel free to visit again. 🙂 Thank you for your kind words, ~Keri
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“Anyone can start a blog, but the real test is getting readers.” Thanks for sharing your experience
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Hi there, Always happy to share insights! Glad you liked this article – I appreciate you sharing your favorite snippet. Thanks for your comment, ~Keri
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What is the most common violation of intellectual property?
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Hi there, The most common violation of intellectual property is infringement. Or, use of IP without permission. In the online world, where we are now, it is commonly images or documents. Hope that helps, ~Keri
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Thanks for sharing this article, interesting read about intellectual property
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Samuel, Thank you for visiting the blog. Glad you felt this article is both interesting and helpful. Intellectual property is something to protect, and services related with it are growing in popularity. Reasonably so. Thanks for your comment, ~Keri
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There are several tax deductions available to rental property owners in addition to mortgage interest and real estate taxes. Standard operating expenses associated with investment properties can also be used as tax deductions.
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Diane, That information will be helpful for business owners that own their brick and mortar. Intellectual property is a bit different, in that we are dealing with knowledge and what can be conveyed on paper (or online). There are different laws that apply there. Our guest author was trying to help business owners that are developing their company based on their intellectual property. Thank you for sharing your thoughts, ~Keri
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Interesting post! Intellectual property is indeed very important to many businesses. Protecting it can help you avoid future costs and trouble. You can even monetize it by selling your business in the future. The long term-benefit of protecting it are plentiful such as those mentioned above. Who knows, you might be building the next multi-million dollar IP business.
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Jim, Thank you for your enthusiasm, and thank you for sharing your thoughts! I agree with all that you said. All business owners and stakeholders should be careful by protecting their intellectual property as a valuable asset of the business. 🙂 ~Keri
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