Protecting Your IP
By astropreneurs. Filed in Getting Started |
Intellectual property (”IP”) is a critical asset of most businesses. IP includes patents, copyrights, and trademarks. Investors take IP seriously, and having IP securing aspects which are critical to your business will strengthen your case.
Patents protect technologies by granting the inventor exclusive rights to derive profit from a particular invention for a fixed period of time and the authority to allow others to derive profit from that invention. Patents not only cover technologies such as devices but also processes, business models, and algorithms, to name a few. A patent is essentially a document which informs the pubic exactly what your invention entails and how to implement your invention, in exchange for exclusivity to derive profit from the invention. In the United States, the first inventor of a technology is entitled to the patent for that technology, regardless of whether or not the technology has already been patented. Elsewhere in the world generally the patent goes to the first to file.
Copyrights similarly protect compiled works such as books, webpages, musical compositions, software, and others. In the United States, anyone can declare a work to be copyrighted and secure their rights to derive profit from the work by simply stating the work is copyrighted. However, a copyright can also be registered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office to ensure original authorship in the event of an authorship/implementation/distribution dispute. Elements of software are subject to both patents and copyrights-a patent would protect a particular technology or algorithm in a piece of software where the copyright would protect the specific code which makes up the software. Notably, piece of software which achieves the same result as copyrighted software but written independently with unique code does not violate the copyrighted software’s copyright and is fair game.
Trademarks protect symbols, phrases, and aspects of a company’s brand or identity. Similar to copyrights, in the United States trademarks can simply be declared by placing a superscript “TM” after the symbol, name, or phrase. However, trademarks can also be registered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office to strengthen protection of the trademark upon a dispute. In the United States, generally the first to practice use of a trademark is entitled to the trademark, however contingent on a number of conditions.
More on patents, copyrights, and trademarks is available at www.uspto.gov.