“The entrepreneur is the one who dares to dream the dreams and is foolish enough to try and make them come true." So says Vinod Khosla, the CEO of IT giant Sun Microsystems. The dreams he refers to are the beginnings of intellectual property which can mature into tangible, revenue generating ideas. Whether these ideas are writings, computer code, or design drawings, they are all intellectual property.
But without careful protection, such ideas can be plundered by others. So here are five key points for intellectual property protection:
1. Trade Secrets - entrepreneurs should treat this valuable information as confidential and proprietary and must take reasonable steps to keep it so. If disclosure to a third party is necessary, then a non-disclosure agreement should be signed before any negotiations commence.
2. Copyright - entrepreneurs create data sheets, drawings, presentations, and photographs which can all be protected via copyright. Ideas alone cannot be copyrighted, but an author’s unique expression of an idea is copyrightable once it is “fixed in a tangible medium of expression.” Thus obtaining copyright protection is simple. No formal registration is required.
3. Design Rights - to qualify as a new design, the overall impression should be different from any existing design. This is to prevent unauthorised copying of an original design. Design rights exist independently of copyright. While copyright may protect documents detailing the design as well as any artistic or literary work incorporated within the finished product, the design right focuses more on the shape, configuration and construction of a product.
4. Trade Marks - these protect distinctive symbols, logos, marks, words, or designs that are used to identify and distinguish goods from others. To maximise their protection, they must be registered. Trade marks also impact on choice and use of domain names used on the internet.
5. Patent - though finite in duration, patents allow companies to protect ideas and processes. A patent allows the holder to exclude others from “making, using, importing, offering for sale, or selling the invention” for a specific time period. All inventions must be novel, non-obvious, and useful.
Angel Adrian is a Senior Lecturer in Intellectual Property Law for the Business School at Bournemouth University.
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