Intellectual Rights: What to Know and Ways to Protect
Understanding Intellectual rights and protection is critical to maintaining security for your assets, your business, and your ability to create income. This article will explain the modern concepts of intellectual rights, intellectual property, the importance of protecting them, who should protect them, the types of protection offered, and the future of intellectual property.
Intellectual Rights
Intellectual property rights are the lawful authority of a creator to protect their ideas or creations from anyone who does not have permission to use, copy, infringe, or sell the protected asset. If you are an artist, thinker, inventor, or business with intellectual property, you probably already understand the importance of intellectual rights. However, if you are somewhat new to the game, you will want to firmly grasp this article’s concepts.
What is Intellectual Property?
Intellectual property is a type of asset owned by a business or individual that is not necessarily physical property. It is a creation or documentation of an original idea or ideas.
These are a few examples of intellectual property:
- Art design
- Music
- Literary works
- Writings
- Recipes
- Screenplays
- Films
- Architectural drawings
- Computer software
- Inventions
- Graphs or schematics
- Formulas
- Set of methods
- Phrases or symbols
- Domain names
- Proprietary systems or strategies
- Industrial designs
- Geographical indications
Some things that are not intellectual property are:
- A generic word
- A book title
- A domain name
- An unoriginal idea
Protection for Intellectual Rights
The first historical reference to intellectual property and rights dates from 500 B.C.E. in Greece, where chefs of Sybaris were given one-year monopolies on their original culinary designs. Since then, humankind has created many original ideas and products that warrant protection.
Who Should Protect Their Intellectual Rights
If you create an original idea, concept, story, formula, or design, you most likely need to invest in intellectual property protective measures. Whatever your creation might be, there is always someone out there looking to cut corners and steal great ideas.
Here is a sampling of creators who must protect their intellectual properties:
- Artists
- Authors
- Screenwriters
- Filmmakers
- Technology companies
- Design firms
- Businesses
- Inventors
- Graphic designers
Why You Need Intellectual Rights Protection
Intellectual rights protection is necessary to guard against theft of your assets and secure and safeguard your reputation. Reputation, character, and distinction are the driving forces for successful business operations, sales, and word-of-mouth advertising in the internet age.
On the flip side, intellectual property theft or even filing a case can be risky and expensive. The statistics say it all.
Intellectual Property Statistics
- Intellectual property theft averages $225 billion to $600 billion annually in the U.S.
- Nearly 12,000 intellectual property theft cases are filed in the U.S. each year.
- 38.2% of the U.S. GDP comes from intellectual property-intensive industries.
- In 2019, filed trademark applications increased to 673,233.
- Also, in 2019, 12% of U.S. patent applications were for computer technology intellectual property.
- In 2018, 21.7% of CFOs in the U.S. believed their companies were victims of IP theft.
- The average cost of a U.S. business’ data breach is $8.64 million.
- Patent lawsuits increased 9% in January of 2020.
- Mediation averages $100,000 per case.
- Only 13.4% of IP cases resulted in damage awards after 2.4 years of litigation.
Types of Intellectual Rights Protection & How to Obtain Them
Copyrights
A copyright is held by the original creator, who can opt to authorize users at their discretion. It protects original literary works, music, plays, movies, artwork, photos, videos, and architecture. You must get a copyright through the U.S. Copyright Office, which our Provo copyright attorneys can help you obtain.
Trademarks
A business or individual holds a trademark to protect phrases, symbols, or designs like logos, fonts, colors, sounds, or other specific identifying aspects to prevent competitors from infringing or copying your work. A trademark is a tedious process through the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Our Provo trademark attorneys are ready to help you through the process.
Patents
A business or individual also holds a patent. It safeguards pharmaceutical, utility, plant, or design properties. It prevents the remaking or selling of an invention, but only for a limited time. A patent must also be obtained from the United States Patent and Trademark Office. At Howard Lewis & Petersen, our Provo business attorneys can maneuver through this process for you, saving you time and money.
Trade Secrets
A trade secret is usually held by a company to protect confidential information that would provide a competitive commercial advantage. It secures information like proprietary systems, formulas, or strategies. While a trade secret does not require an official registration, there are legal protective measures you can take to ensure safety or legal recourse against theft. Contact our Provo business lawyers for more information.
Digital Assets
A copyright for digital assets does not require registration as ownership already belongs to you as the creator. However, you must still take action to protect your intellectual property from theft or infringement. Encoding, encryption, or watermarking are common ways to safeguard it. Often, a breach of copyright occurs. When it does, you will need legal representation. Our Provo intellectual property lawyers are ready to fight for you.
Industrial Designs
An international legal framework is set up for design patents for industrial designs, which are the ornamental designs of a product. It may have three-dimensional features, the shape of the product, or two-dimensional features, like packages, containers, furnishings, household goods, lighting products, jewelry, electronic devices, and textiles. It may also include graphic symbols, interfaces, or logos.
Geographical Indications
A set of systems, certification marks, business practices, and laws protect the intellectual property of geographical indications or signs used on products that point to a specific geographical origin, qualities, or reputation attached to that location of origin.
Intellectual properties may include the name of a product that includes the place of origin. Some products are agricultural, foodstuffs, wines, drinks, handicrafts, and industrial products. Our Provo intellectual property attorneys can help you sort through the complexities of this protection.
Other Things You Can do to Protect Your Intellectual Property
- Register trademarks, copyrights, and patents.
- Register your business name, product, or domain name.
- Have employees and partners sign confidentiality contracts or non-disclosure, proprietary information, or secrecy agreements.
- Establish strong security measures.
- Avoid joint ownership.
The Future of Intellectual Property
The future of intellectual property and the ever-increasing importance of protecting these assets is expanding daily as technologies and new ideas surge forward. It is exciting to think of the brilliant inventions, stories, and products yet to come.
Here are some of the soaring creative ventures in intellectual property:
- Frontier technologies, including cyber technologies and metaverses
- Artificial intelligence
- Expanding digital technologies
- Gender equality
- Sustainable development goals
Let Howard Lewis & Petersen Handle Your Intellectual Rights Protection
When you need intellectual rights protection for your most treasured ideas, Howard Lewis & Petersen are the state’s expert Provo intellectual property lawyers. We are here to serve you.
Call our office today to schedule an appointment for a consultation. We’ll help you protect your intellectual property.
