Written by Cherrie Stewart, Director and Chartered Trade Mark Attorney at Ansons Intellectual Property.
Technological innovation has significantly increased in the last century. New inventions and improvements to existing products are conceived of every day; innovations imagined which have the potential to make their way from an individual’s mind onto the drawing board and from there to the market place and into the world. Companies are constantly innovating and finding new and improved ways to achieve a goal or complete a task. Of course, where there is innovation there are also those who wish to take advantage of any success and it is, therefore, of paramount importance to be aware of how to protect your work.
While innovation is the byword of business today, Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) are its fuel and every business should have an understanding of Intellectual Property (IP), both their own and that of others.
So, what is IP?
“Intellectual Property” is a term which encompasses a number of individual rights all of which protect very different things. For example, a novel invention or modification to an existing product could be protected by a patent. You may be under the impression that it is not possible to obtain a patent for software-related products. However, as with all inventions, a software-related invention can be patented if it solves a technical problem, and is new, inventive and industrially applicable. To be the subject of a patent it is necessary for a technical effect to be observed when the software is running on a computer which goes beyond the “normal” physical interactions between the program (software) and the computer (hardware) on which it is run, e.g., in the internal functioning of the computer or its interfaces or the management of computing resources.
Other IPRs include design rights which may protect the appearance of a product; and trade mark registrations which protect those signs used to identify your products including names, logos and icons.
Copyright automatically comes into existence upon the creation of an artistic or literary works, e.g., software code, layouts, images, etc., whereas commercially sensitive information, such as test data, algorithms, processes or formulas could potentially be the subject of trade secrets.
Securing your IPRs allows you to share new concepts and technology while providing a safety net. For example, a patent provides a monopoly right and, in return, the details of the invention are published in a patent document allowing third parties to use and develop that technology once the right has expired. The period of protection equips the inventor or developer with the time needed to recoup their R&D investment while, hopefully, also making a profit.
Collaboration agreements clearly delineate each parties’ rights and IPRs can be licensed thus allowing technologies from different parties and disciplines to be merged creating more new and improved products. Apple and Microsoft have a number of cross-licence agreements between them, as have Google and Samsung Electronics, allowing different software features to be utilised in each parties’ products.
Nobody would dispute that Apple Inc. are a successful company and part of this can be attributed to their IP strategy. Steven Jobs, the founder of Apple, Inc, once said
“I realized that we thrived when we created intellectual property. If people copied or stole our software, we’d be out of business. If it weren’t protected, there’d be no incentive for us to make new software or product designs. If protection of intellectual property begins to disappear, creative companies will disappear or never get started.”
Apple Inc. certainly makes sure to invest in the protection of their Intellectual Property. They own in excess of 1000 marks on the U.S. Federal trade mark register alone and have in excess of 20,000 active patents worldwide.
So, when considering your business: -
Don’t forget that an IP Attorney is best placed to help you navigate your IP journey
