Five Things Every New Business Needs to Know About Protecting Intellectual Property
I‘m always on the lookout for articles with the potential to positively change a business. What’s your take on the following points I came across recently?
Key considerations for protecting intellectual property
Signed non-disclosure agreements are not always practical
As lawyers, we generally prefer to see the person you are discussing your confidential information with sign a non-disclosure agreement. This will make it clear that the parties agreed what information was confidential and that it was intended not to be further disclosed. If the other party then breaks this agreement, the breach will be much easier to enforce. However, founding a new business is not always conducive to such formalities.
Patents are commonly misunderstood
Patents are often confused with other types of intellectual property and people often do not realise that to obtain a patent, your idea must be a new and inventive device, substance, method or process. Meeting the inventive step is difficult and, for instance, software codes may not meet this step as often as people think. A patent or design registration will however give you a very powerful right to enforce in your intellectual property for up to 20 years. The registration process does, however, need to be commenced early on and can be a costly and time-consuming exercise.
The good news is copyright protection is a given
Copyright is an automatic right that subsists in creative works, for example, musical, dramatic, literary and artistic works. Importantly, it will usually protect software code, as it is written. In Australia, you do not need to register your copyright interests. There is no copyright in an idea itself; the rights are enforceable upon the idea being reduced to a material form. So always ensure that the material (for example, written code) is dated and documented. Copyright can be assigned and licensed and is a valuable commodity that covers the ‘look and feel’ of your idea.
I’d be really interested to know your opinion. Check out the full article here and then I’d be happy to discuss with you by phone (0467) 749 378 or email [email protected].
Thanks,
Robert