Having a great idea is one thing, as is coming up with a great slogan or a winning logo. However, protecting that idea or those assets as your own intellectual property is something else entirely.
Intellectual property laws (IP laws) exist to protect your ideas, your creations and your inventions from any unfair competition. But there are four types of intellectual property rights, and it’s important to know the difference.
So, to better understand which category of intellectual property rights would best suit your idea, let’s take a look at each one of the four types:
The 4 Types of Intellectual Property Rights and Protection are:
- Trademarks
- Patents
- Copyrights
- Trade Secrets
Trademarks
Trademarks are a form of intellectual property protection designed to protect words, phrases, symbols and slogans. To take the multi-national sportswear brand Nike for example, the brand name, the slogan ‘Just Do It’ and the Nike swoosh symbol are all trademarks of Nike Inc. Trademarks are considered to be assets that can identify or describe a specific brand or signpost where a particular product comes from.
Patents
If you’re the inventor in your family, then this is the kind of intellectual property protection that you’re after. You may have come up with a design for a new solution to a technical problem faced in the field of manufacturing, or you might have created a clever utility to make things easier in the kitchen. Whatever it is, patents are designed to protect your inventive ideas or processes and keep them safe from being stolen. With the right patent in place, you can continue to work on and improve your design or product, safe in the knowledge that you have exclusive rights on it and that nobody else can sell, use, or distribute it and claim it as their own.
Copyrights
Copyrights differ from patents in that the original idea or concept doesn’t receive protection, but the original work in question does – in effect, the way that the ideas and concepts are expressed. Put simply, this can include dramatic works, books and other written works, choreographed dance, music, architectural drawings, sculptures, paintings, sound recordings, photographs and computer software. Copyrights allow the creator and owner of the protected materials to control performance, adaptations, copying, public distribution and public performance of the works.
Trade Secrets
Trade secrets are pieces of information that have great value to a particular person or business and need to be kept secret. Such information could include formulas or recipes, a system, algorithm or procedure, a device or a design. A trade secret could give the person or business a competitive advantage over their rivals, and have important economic benefits too.
How can Legal Paar protect your intellectual property?
Here at Legal Paar, we provide a prestige level of bullet-proof intellectual property protection for clients around the world. We combine tried-and-tested methodologies with smart, modern thinking and tools to ensure that the client and their peace of mind come first every time.
Your hard work, experience and ingenuity deserve the highest level of care and attention, from people who understand you and your exact requirements.
If you’d like to know how Legal Paar can protect your intellectual property and assets, contact us today at info@legalpaar.com or call us on +34 93 548 43 32