12/08/2020
USING A OR NAME CHECK FIRST IT COULD SAVE YOU A FORUTNE
Intellectual property (IP) rights are not always top of mind when you're trying to run a business. They are a serious matter, though, and failure to respect them could have financial consequences for your business, whether the violation was intentional or not. An IP violation could open your business up to lawsuits and potentially have a big price tag. Understanding what types of IP exist and how they are protected by the law is critical to avoid accidentally infringing upon someone else's rights.
THE MAJOR TYPES OF IP PROTECTIONS
• Copyrights: Copyrights protect the rights to "original artistic works," including literature, drama, music, video, architecture and computer software.
• Trademarks: Trademarks protect aspects of branding like words, phrases, and symbols that identify goods, services, and companies.
• Patents: Patents cover inventions and protect the rights to that innovation for a predetermined amount of time. These include utility patents, design patents and plant patents.
• Trade secrets: Trade secrets protect information of a proprietary nature, including formulas, programs and data. Trade secrets grant one party an economic advantage over competing interests.
AVOIDING IP INFRINGEMENT IS NOT ALWAYS SO SIMPLE
Unfortunately, avoiding IP infringement is not always so simple. Business owners run the risk of Trademark owners IP rights in many ways, so it's important to consider this in every decision you make regarding the use of graphics, slogans and even particular product components.
One of the costliest mistakes business owners can make is using work they don't own the rights to. A good example is when you hire in an agency to source and create content and the agency had used protected IP without permission, a registered name or Trademark.They hand it over to you and you use it, you are in breach and so are the agency. UNLESS its stated in a contract that the agency warrants that all the necessary rights have been sought and granted and can be transferred to you.
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