PROTECTING INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS
Protecting Intellectual Property Rights
Business Assets fall into two categories. Tangible and Intangible.
Tangible assets are real and can be seen and felt. Examples: the computers, furniture, machinery etc., you use for business are real physical assets.
Intangible assets are not visible and felt. Good examples of intangible assets are the intellectual property rights you own in the name of your business such as trademarks, copyrights, patents etc. Another example would be the “Goodwill” of your business. That is the value of your business before the public in the form of the reputation and the market loyalty your business has built up.
Before the era of the internet, business assets mostly consisted of the cash in hand and banks, accounts receivable, plant and machinery, equipment, land, buildings, vehicles possessed and owned in the name of the business which has physical existence.
Creations of the human mind include all types of inventions, all artistic and literary works, designs and symbols, images and names. All of these creations fall under the umbrella of intellectual property and are protected by law. When it is done in the name of your business, it becomes your business assets. Legally protecting these assts enables you to earn recognition, financial benefits and more.
Ownership of any property has to be established legally. Similar is the case with intellectual property also. IP rights provide their owners with an exclusive form of legal protection that makes them monetarily valuable. For example, patents grant its owner a temporary monopoly to prevent other parties from commercially exploiting goods or processes patented.
The first step in this direction is to identify the intellectual properties held by your business.
A patent covers all new and useful inventions that are not obvious to the public. A patent protects its inventor against unauthorized use, sale, import, or export of that patented invention.
Copyright protects creative works which are published or publicly performed. It also includes works created prior to the date of publication such as literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works. The content created for general information or for marketing purposes is a literary work and can be protected through copyright.
Trademarks are used to identify the source of a good or service in order to distinguish it from the competition.
Trademarks can be either unique (like Tata Motors ®) or generic (like aspirin). Trademarks protect products and services against third parties’ use of a similar name to fool consumers into believing that they are buying other products or services.
Industrial designs are non-functional trademarks of a product’s form or configuration. This type of intellectual property protects the shape, color, texture, ornamentation which are inherent in a product.
A trade secret is information that is not generally known outside the company and which is used to build competitive advantage such as processes and formulas for making food products or producing specialized machinery.
Intellectual Properties are power-packed with value. But you need to have a proper understanding and proper plan of action to make these intangible assets work as wealth creation tools. Biz Legal Guard can help you.
If your company has created trademarks, patents, or copyrights, in the course of your business, these digital assets can be employed in different ways to grow your business and increase your profit.
Similary, the items that your business might have stored digitally. Oftentimes, it might not have splashed across your mind and you will be surprised when you see the below list of digital assets you possess but sitting idle.
Not only the content you created for Your Website has value; even the look and feel of your website do have value if they are part of your brand image and are copyright protected.
Your business name, website url or the domain name, trademark, logo, etc., are your intellectual properties and demand a price if they are duly registered and protected.
If you are the owner of an e-commerce store selling digital products, they are part of your business inventory and are digital assets you possess.
You have your business growth plans and strategies stored digitally in your systems as well as different business processes which are again made available digitally in the form of spreadsheets, word documents, PPTs, etc. They do belong to the list of your digital assets.
Apps that your business has created, photos and visuals that your company has created; Social media accounts and all of your posts you have created on different platforms are your intangible assets.
Your Email List containing sensitive personal information of your customers is your intangible asset.
All these are digital assets you own and has value as they can be sold for a price or can be made use to generate additional income.
Anything of value has to be legally protected first by claiming its ownership by getting the proper approvals and sanctions as per the procedure laid down by law.
