The intellectual property holdings of a business might include trade secrets, trademarks that represent a brand and/or copyrighted original creations. Some organizations even prosecute patents to protect technological innovations and cutting-edge products.
Intellectual property protections theoretically help businesses maintain a competitive advantage. However, other businesses are often eager to infringe on intellectual property protections. After all, any idea or creative work that gives one business a competitive advantage could be beneficial for other companies as well.
How can organizations limit the likelihood and negative impact of intellectual property violations?
Formal registration
There are certain types of intellectual property protection that do not require government registration. For example, creators and businesses can publish original creative works to derive general copyright protection. Trade secrets may not require any registration to have protection from worker or competitor misconduct. However, formally registering copyrighted works or trademarks can enhance the protection available and make it easier to enforce intellectual property protections if a violation occurs. The more valuable certain intellectual property is for a company, the more worthwhile formal registration may be.
Licensing with interested parties
Perhaps a competitor on the other side of the country wants to use a jingle or other original creative works used in marketing by a successful local company. Maybe others in the same industry want to use a patented concept to streamline their production processes. Negotiating licensing agreements with outside parties is one way to prevent those parties from misusing protected information or works. The company licensing the work or idea can control how the other party uses the licensed information. Licensing agreements can also be a viable source of revenue for businesses with an extensive library of intellectual property.
Monitoring for infringement
Competitors might reverse engineer patented technology or try duplicating a company’s packaging to manipulate consumers. Organizations can suffer significant brand damage when other companies engage in certain types of intellectual property misconduct. Regularly checking for warning signs of infringing activities by monitoring competitors and companies moving into the same sector can help a business proactively respond to potential sources of intellectual property violations. The sooner a company identifies and shuts down infringing activities, the less harm those intellectual property violations may have on a company’s brand.
Reviewing a variety of different solutions with the assistance of a skilled legal team can help those hoping to protect intellectual property or respond appropriately to recent violations. Intellectual property can be important for a company’s bottom line and its brand, making protecting intellectual property protection a priority for many organizations.
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