Why protect your IP?
Protecting your intellectual property is crucial to the success of your business. What is your intellectual property and how should you protect it? Under intellectual property law, owners are granted certain exclusive rights to a variety of intangible assets. Intellectual property refers to creations of the mind: inventions, names, designs used in commerce.
IP is divided into two categories:
- industrial property, which includes inventions (patents), utility models, trademarks, industrial designs and
- copyright.
How you protect your intellectual property depends on what types of intellectual property you have.
Protecting Intellectual Property has several advantages on a legal, commercial and financial level.
- The legal advantages provided by Intellectual Property rights (IP rights) include the right to prevent third parties from using the same technology, an identical or similar name, design or shape;
- Based on these legal advantages, IP rights will confer a commercial advance. The exclusive aspect of the product, manufacturing method may indeed be used as a commercial tool, to attract new customers and to keep existing customers;
- Intellectual Property is a recognition factor providing greater credibility with your business partners. IP rights may also help in expanding into other markets. IP rights are for example also useful for licensing activities, selling a business or securing financing;
- In the economy which is increasingly becoming knowledge-based intellectual property is one of those factors which can ensure a competitive advantage over other market players. By contrast, a failure to use appropriate protection tools can cause an irreversible damage to any business;
- When care is taken with regard to registration of trademarks and designs or patentability of inventions, not only does it allow to transform an idea into a valuable asset, but also provides concrete tools of protection against potential infringements by the competing third parties;
- the advantages deriving from a stronger market position, registration of IP rights also provides significant tax benefits IP rights.
Protecting your intellectual property is of crucial importance to the success of Your business. Whether you have an innovative idea, intend to launch a new product, with a new name you should consider legally protecting your intellectual property.
Great ideas are only of value if they can be protected from the competitors. Intellectual Property rights grant their owners monopolies on innovations, products or names to create monopolies and thus may help to escape free competition.
Intellectual property rights, are monopolies that promote development of our collective technical and commercial heritage. Thus, intellectual property and the exclusive rights relating thereto are stimulus to innovation.
Companies that fail to properly protect their technology, their inventions, their brands or their products are very vulnerable, as their competitors may manufacture and provide the same products without restrictions. The competitors can even use the same name, and in certain case prevent the original company from using the original name.