19 – Intellectual Property

Are you creating something new that other people might want to “borrow” without asking?  If so, you may have intellectual property that needs protection.  Intellectual property is a legal recognition of exclusive rights for any new and unique idea, invention, or process you create, providing you with a clear advantage over your competition.  Protecting you intellectual property gives you the right to take legal action if someone steals or profits from something you claim as your own.  Depending on what sort of intellectual property you have, you may want to file:

• A patent for an invention:  a patent will protect an invention for up to 20 years.  Types of inventions protected by patents include new and useful processes, machines, things that can be manufactured, improvement to things that can manufactured, or a new original and ornamental design for an article of manufacture.  While filing for a patent is an expensive and complex process, a provisional patents gives you a quick and inexpensive way to lay claim to your idea for up to a year, allowing time to work through the patent process.
• A trademark for a brand:  A trademark will protect words, names, symbols, sounds, or colors that distinguish goods and services from those manufactured or sold by others.  In other words, a trademark will protect a business name, its symbols, and its logo to make sure they cannot be copied.
• A copyright for a creative work:  A copyright protects literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other intellectual works, both published and unpublished.
• A trade secret for confidential information:  A trade secret can protect a formula, practice, process, design instrument, pattern or compilation of information.  While no official filing is required, a business must take reasonable steps to safeguard a trade secret from disclosure by limiting access to the information.