You may not realize it, but you deal with intellectual property (IP) every day. If you own a website, that website is your intellectual property. The way you deal with IPyours and otherscan directly impact the success of your business.
Whats Intellectual Property?
Registered patent attorney Patricia McQueeney (http://BrinkleyMcNerney.com) explains, [Intellectual property] can be broken downinto four types: patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets.
A patent deals with a completely new inventiona useful item, a novel look on an already-existing item, or a new plant species. Depending on the type of patent, theyre good for between 14 and 20 years. The scope of a patent is defined by its claims. A claim is only one sentence but it may go on for pages, which is why its best to hire an experienced patent attorney.
Copyrights protect creative expressionbooks, websites, songs. There is such a thing as common law copyright, which means that you have rights when you create something. The difficulty lies in proving you were first to create it.
For only $30 you can register with the U.S. Copyright Office (http://www.copyright.gov). The forms arent complicated, and you have a lot more protection in an infringement suit. The copyright is good for your lifetime and seventy years after you die, and you can make it assignable to anyone upon your death.
Copyrights dont protect the information found in a book or on a website, but they protect the lay-out and presentation. For websites, registering your first and last 25 pages of code protects the code for your entire website and the creative expression of your display screens.
A trademark designates an objects sourceits a mark or name associated with quality. In trade mark law, arbitrary names are encouragedKodak, Kleenex, Apple. The less your trademark describes your product, the stronger it is. If you sell film, using Film as a trademark wont hold up in court. Again there are common law trademarks, but theyre hard to prove and offer less protection than a state or federal trademark (http://www.uspto.gov).
Trade secrets are governed by state laws and vary from state to state. They encompass a variety of things from formulas (think Coke) to customer lists to product sources. Many companies have contracts that expressly prohibit their employees and vendors from giving away any information theyre exposed to while doing business with them. Commonly known facts arent considered trade secrets so its good to be discreet with your valuable information.
Get it in Writing
Its important to remember that copyrights and patents give rights to the person who comes up with the idea, not the company that employs them. So if you hire someone to design your website, the creator owns it unless you have the copyright assigned to you in writing. Thats why many business owners state in their employee agreements that any works or useful inventions created on company time with company funds will be assigned to the company. Cautions McQueeney, You dont own it unless you get it written over to you. |
About Us
