What is Intellectual Property?

By: Kelley Keller

Every business has intellectual property which has the potential to be extremely valuable.
In simplest terms, intellectual property (often referred to as “IP”) is a type of intangible asset for your business that includes your ideas, inventions, creations and secrets that give you a competitive advantage in the marketplace. Intellectual property is protected by trademark, copyright, patent and trade secret laws.

Intellectual property laws date all the way back to the U.S. Constitution, which gives Congress the authority to, “promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors, the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries.” Art. 1, sec. 8, cl. 8.

While some intellectual property laws have been slow to change with the times, they still exist as a way to enable creators and inventors to leverage their ideas and inventions for profit or for the public good. In other words, just because someone might not like the rules, doesn’t mean he or she is allowed to break them. Only the owner of intellectual property can decide what becomes of it and who can use it and profit from it.

The Types of Intellectual Property
Intellectual property falls into four categories: trademarks, copyrights, patents and trade secrets.

Trademarks
Trademarks identify the source of goods or services in the marketplace. The purpose is to ensure there is no confusion about who is providing a good or service to consumers.

A trademark is a distinctive word or symbol (or combination) that indicates the origin of products or services. For example, the Nike swoosh, the AT&T globe, the McDonald’s arches, and the Disney logo are all trademarked symbols. Brand names like Starbucks, iPhone and Google are examples of trademarked words. There are also trademarks for distinctive shapes and package design (called “trade dress” like the Coca-Cola hourglass bottle), colors (like Tiffany blue), sounds (like the MGM lion’s roar), and scents (but this is very uncommon).
Trademarks live forever as long as the trademark holder continues to use the mark properly in commerce (and files the right paperwork with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office). That means for the life of the mark, the trademark holder can exclusively use the mark in commerce and stop others from doing so. Counterfeit goods, websites, social media profiles, store fronts and anything else that uses the trademarked word or symbol in a manner that could confuse consumers would be a trademark infringement. The rights holder can not only stop the infringer but also collect fines and more.

What do you think Nike would do if a company started selling athletic wear with a name like Nikee on it that included a similar (but not exactly the same) swoosh symbol? They’d take action to stop that company because it’s a trademark infringement. Under U.S. trademark laws, you have the exact same rights as a small business when you register a trademark.

How would you feel if another company started using the same name as yours to sell similar goods and services? They could start taking profits from you if consumers think they’re actually buying from your company but mistakenly buy from the trademark infringer. That company is trading on your brand reputation and good will, and that’s illegal.

Don’t wait for it to happen to you. Register your trademarks now (and get help filling out the application so you get the protection you need). Furthermore, don’t make the mistake of assuming registering your business name (i.e., trade name) with your state is enough. Trademarks and trade names are not the same!

Read more >> https://smallbiztrends.com/2016/03/what-is-intellectual-property.html