Identifying Your Intellectual Property
As an attorney for creative individuals and companies, I am a huge advocate of protecting your intellectual property (aka “IP”). However, so many people come to me unsure of what kind of IP they actually own, and how that IP can be protected. In a previous post, we went over the differences between trademark, copyright, patents and trade secrets, which are all types of IP. It was a bit overambitious of me to try to cram it all into one post, and moving forward we’ll be focusing on specific issues relating to the different types of IP. So before we tackle specific IP issues, I wanted to do a mini refresher on what is protected by each of the four basic types of IP:
1) Trademark:
Protects your company’s brand by indicating the source of goods or services through the use of:
• your company name
• names of specific products or services
• your business’s logo
• your business’s tagline or slogan
• the visual appearance of a product or its packaging, including unique colors and design
2) Copyright:
Protects original works of authorship that are fixed in a tangible medium, including:
• photographs
• website copy and content
• logos
• marketing materials
• videos
• books and written materials
• source code
• artwork
• graphic design
3) Patents:
Protects new, novel and non-obvious inventions, such as:
• machines and devices
• compositions of substances, such as the formula for a soft drink or a drug
• Processes that achieve certain results, like tempering glass to make it break-resistant
• Scientific principles and algorithms
• methods of doing business, such as new types of banking, e-commerce and insurance
4) Trade Secrets:
Protects confidential and proprietary business information that gives your company a competitive advantage, such as:
• financial information
• customer lists
• formulas and recipes
• business plans
• design specifications and schematics
• pricing information
• business methods
You were probably able to identify numerous items on the above lists that were created or acquired in connection with your business. The next post will look at whether you actually own this IP if it was created for you by an employee, independent contractor or intern, and then after that we’ll start looking at how to protect each different kind of IP.
Katy
Thanks for the break-down. This post is so helpful on which direction I should trademark & copyright my business. I’m re-branding so I’ll be calling you once the re-branding is complete. Looking forward to the other posts.
Great, Tanza! I look forward to working together!
Where do designs fall? Stationery designs, for example.
Designs, including stationery designs, will fall under copyright protection. Certain designs, like a logo, can also be protected by trademark, but with trademark registration we’re not as concerned about the design itself, but rather with branding and how the design causes consumers to link a product or service with your specific company.