Intellectual property in general refers to creations of the mind. Things like inventions, your brand name, your logo or symbols, your artistic works, your images and your designs are all examples of an intellectual property. Sadly, these can also be robbed from you easily nowadays. In the world where people are so smart and intelligent, while you strive hard to make your own brand and product, do all your research and brainstorm for days just to have that identity, there are others that are just others who wait and keep looking for ideas that they can copy.
There are mainly 3 ways you can protect your Intellectual property. It is through patent, trademark, and copyright.
The Trademark, which is a word, a sound, or a design or a combination of these used to give you the identity of the goods and the services that you offer and which will also that will set you apart from the others ( or in this case the competitors ). It is also a tool to help the public distinguish you, your product and your services.
Copyright pertains to architectural works, literary works, music, movies, paintings and other works, including computer programs. The owner of a copyright gets to decide who can legally make copies of that work. It is illegal to copy large sections of someone else’s copyrighted work without permission, even if you give the original author credit.
While Patent is a government grant giving an inventor the right to exclude others from making, using or selling an invention. It covers new inventions like process, machine, manufacture, composition of matter or any new and useful innovation and improvement to an existing invention
Why do I need to do it early?
Intellectual property rights are so important but easily get taken for granted. For most business owners and entrepreneurs that I’ve met and spoken with, they all in general have told me that they have thought of it but setting that aside until the business grow big and abundant while a small chunk has lack of knowledge that they can protect their brand.
It is the only way that you can protect yourself from someone stealing your idea and hard work. It also can set your business apart from competitors. It can be sold or licensed in which if you miss this part, you are losing yourself the chance to make an eventual revenue stream.
Let me give you some scenarios:
First Scenario:
Henry created a company for a motorcycle gear shop and named his shop “Camp Jaguar”. It sells camp gears, automotive gears, helmets, car accesories and the likes. He went on registered his business and did everything he could to make the business grow. He is happy with how all things are going and now also started to be known. He is now ready to own his brand and file for an intellectual property owning his brand name and logo.
Jaguar ( Luxury vehicles company ) contested the claim and did not allow him to own his name “Camp Jaguar” because they already have intellectual property rights for the name “Jaguar” and the classification of his products are similar to them. We all did not know that Jaguar also sells automotive gears, car accessories, and the likes. So Henry had no choice but to change his brand name and strive even harder to get known again.
What do you think had happened if Henry did intellectual property filing a lot earlier than he did? He may not have owned the brand “camp jaguar” as his business name but he could have all started it right instead of changing his name eventually.
Another Scenario:
Gloria made an innovation for tech financing. She made an app that helps business owners to file loan at the tip of their hands. She made it real big, it went well and gave her well-off profits. A lot copied the platform, the concept, the idea, the process, had their logo almost similar to Gloria’s and made their brand name almost the same as hers. The second company who was just supposedly a copycat went on and filed for intellectual property rights. For the app, the logo and the brand name and had it. They can now sue Gloria for having the same app as theirs if they want and they will eventually win because they already have the rights for it.
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I hope I am able to convey the importance of IPF here. If you have a book, a brand name, a logo, a product or service that you wish to protect, Or a business that has been running for over 5 years or so without the Intellectual property rights, Now is the time. In this digital world, everything can now be easily copied. If you don’t get the law with you, someone else will.
Thanks for reading and if you need more help in doing this or for a free consultation, please feel free to hit contact us and message me.
Cheers!
Your talented va 