Intellectual Property (IP) protection plays a critical role in distinguishing your business from other businesses. It helps you reap the full benefits of your product and brand by protecting it in the eyes of the law.
It also allows you to foster your business?s ingenuity without running the risk of your competitors copying you, whether unknowingly or with dubious intent. For example, the registration and maintenance of a trademark can help protect your business from competitors.
Here?s what you need to know about the essential act of protecting the intellectual property of your business.
Terminology
Here?s a brief glossary of terms to help give you an idea of what form of protection fits your business best.
- Trade Mark: represents your company?s logo; also covers its distinct characteristics like the colour scheme, symbol, slogan, or sound.
- Patents: protects your completely new and useful invention through government authority and licensing.
- Copyrights: refers to the rights to a copy, typically used for films, books, songs, plays, films, and artwork.
- Trade Secrets: refers to designs, formulas, practices, processes, patterns, or instruments that aren’t patented or revealed to the public.
Aside from its main purpose of protecting what?s yours, IP Protection grants you a lot of other perks as well.
IP Protection sets your business up for growth and market expansion
IP protection affirms your product?s position in the industry. By granting your company a form of IP protection, you?d mitigate the pervading risk of competitors from doing the exact same thing that you do. This, in turn, gives them no other choice than to innovate and keep the hot industry high on its heels. This fosters a competitive atmosphere that rewards your company with consumer and market growth since they have more options to sift through.
IP Protection rewards entrepreneurs who innovate and create new solutions
Does your business foster a space of fresh new ideas? Then you can translate your business?s hard work and ingenuity into sales and profitable returns. IP rights facilitate vital information exchange since it has public and protected knowledge on original, base patents. From these patents, more and more avenues for innovation can flourish from companies who have access to the patent, thereby paving the way for innovations and improved prototypes of the old ones.
IP Protection provides ease of mind to consumers and families
Unless your company has the world?s best salesforce, educated consumers won?t make a hefty purchase without thoroughly researching the product and brand first. Your business should aim to dive into the mind of your customer and understand what keeps them from making a purchase decision. A shoddy product with no protection won?t give your business any favours. So if this product or service solves the issue, and is patent approved, that?ll give the consumer the confidence and ease of mind with their purchase decision and trust for your brand.
IP Protection ensures you aren?t infringing on competitor?s rights
An IP protection isn?t just for protecting your business, but it?s for protecting your competitors too. Ensuring that you?re not stepping too close on the toes of your competitors is critical to prevent any mishaps and unintentional similarities from spurring during the development phase. This also means that you should be wary of new employees from divulging information that may be potentially sensitive.
Bordering close to your competitor might subject your company to litigation, so do your research before you sell your product or service and market it as your own. If you?re unsure how to get started, you can hire IP lawyers who specialise in IP protection to help you.
IP Protection attract investors, licensees, and potential buyers
Just like your business?s consumers, potential investors and buyers will gain confidence in the knowledge that your company has legal protection covered.
One example of how IP protection strengthened investor confidence is the case of the Emergency Autotransfusion Set, a medical invention by Dr Otu Oviemo of Nigeria in 1989. The invention resolves ruptured ectopic pregnancy in patients. Considering the relatively few medical resources available in that country at that time, this invention had the potential to be life-changing to pregnant and newborn patients.
With support from the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), Dr Oviemo acquired patent protection for the device. Eleven years later, the EAS-SET industry has accelerated and evolved to further facilitate the commercialisation of this device. The success of the product had attracted both public and private investors, growing to at least $100,000 at that time, with some investors even willing to dedicate a million dollars for the company. Dr Oviemo attached the success of his invention to his decision to acquire the product patent, which went on and saved lives around the world.
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