For many businesses, intellectual property protects more than just an idea or a concept, it protects genuine business assets that may be integral to the core services of the business and overall long-term viability. With that said, we hope this blog post gives you some insight on why you will probably need to protect your idea and how to do it!
Intellectual Property (IP) can consist of many different areas, from logos and corporate identity to products, services, and processes that differentiate your business offering. It’s when these ideas are used without permission that an organization can suffer! Almost all businesses have greatly benefited from the Internet, where products, services, and marketing communications can reach large audiences at relatively low costs – but this has also increased the chances of intellectual property theft. Companies of all sizes are at risk of having their unique ideas, products or services infringed upon, even if they are on the other side of the world, making intellectual property protection more important than ever before!
Keep Your Ideas
When you have a great idea for a product or service, there will always be people who will want to duplicate your success and sell your ideas as their own. Depending on individual circumstances, you can use patents, trademarks or copyrights – all of which cover different areas of Intellectual Property. These can be used to prevent competitors or anyone else from using your ideas for their own profit without your consent. IP protection applies to businesses of all sizes; even huge corporations have had their ideas infringed upon and have made multi-million-dollar lawsuits.
Protect Business Growth
If you are a small business, it’s very important to protect any unique products or services that you own as competitors can use your success to take away market share, resulting in slow growth or loss of revenue. Losing market share early on in a business’s development can be devastating and time-consuming if trying to chase up the guilty party without any legal protection. It’s important to remember that no one else will check to see if your intellectual property has been infringed; it’s your sole responsibility to ensure that no one else is using your assets.
It’s Easier Than You Think
It may seem initially daunting or time-consuming, but protecting yourself is well worth the time and effort and isn’t as difficult as you may think. When dealing with copyrights, there is no actual registration procedure to follow as protection is usually automatic. Although copyrights do not actually protect an idea itself, they protect the way it has been represented – for example, if it has been written down, or recorded on video. If you want to apply for a patent, this can be done either on your own or if you wish, together with a patent attorney. As common sense would dictate, if you are not versed on these topics, seek wise legal counsel because it will help you in the future if someone tries to infringe on your work/idea.
I hope you enjoyed what you read and it gave you some insight on why protection is necessary. Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions and if there are topics you would like me to cover, please let me know!
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