Here's the content of an article I recently submitted to Adam.
Protecting Your Intellectual Property
Matt Dean
One of the most valuable assets to a company these days is not a physical asset, such as a desk, chair or even computer or server! For most businesses, large and small, it is all about the information. This information is called “intellectual property” and it should be protected. In this article, I will talk about how you can protect your intellectual property by registering copyrights, trademarks and patents.
Copyrights
One of the forms of intellectual property protection that most people are familiar with is called the Copyright. A copyright is intended for written and recorded works, such as a book, music or software. Once a work is created, it is automatically copyrighted by the owner. The owner may also register the copyright in his/her jurisdiction (i.e. Canada, in my case), which provides the owner with a certificate of copyright. In all cases, you must ensure you put a copyright notice on your work, similar to the one below.
Copyright notice:
Copyright © 2004 Matt Dean Inc. All rights reserved.
Trademarks
A trademark is a legal protection on a phrase or image (i.e. logo). Because of this, it has to be a specific phrase or image that will be associated with your company. Unlike copyrights, trademarks must be registered in order to be legally recognized in most cases. Registered trademarks bear a special mark and unregistered trademarks bear another.
Registered trademark:
This is my trademark®
Unregistered trademark:
This is my trademark™
Patents
A patent is a legal protection on a specific product or process. I am sure you have seen “Patent Pending” messages on several products that you use. You would want to seek a patent if your company produces a unique product such as a super-duper spoon-fork combination or something like that. Items that are protected by patents usually must carry the “Patent Pending” message, or something similar like the patent application numbers.
I know this was a lot of information to throw at you, so if you have any questions, I recommend contacting the CIPO (Canadian Intellectual Property Office) if you’re in Canada (
www.cipo.gc.ca), the United States Copyright Office (
www.copyright.gov), or the United States Patent and Trademark Office (
www.uspto.gov). These places can answer all of your questions and point you in the right direction. Protecting your intellectual property is in your best interests, as you can take legal action against anyone who violates your copyright, trademark or patent.
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