I like to categorize IP into four buckets,described as follows:
- Copyrights: Copyrights are the creative works of an author, often captured in the form of illustrations, written words or music. Example: a painting, image, book or a song – or more relevant in today’s age: computer source code.
- Trademarks: Trademarks are brand names and logos that a company uses to identify its products or services, so that customers can quickly identify which company is providing the product or service. Example: Coca-Cola, Nike, or T-Mobile.
- Patents: Patents are new inventions or processes, usually with some kind of industrial application. There are three types of patents: (a) utility, (b) design, and (c) plant. Example: a new machine that does something useful, like the telephone, or a computer, or Bluetooth headphones.
- Trade Secrets: Trade secrets are the ‘secret sauce’ of a company, such as specific procedures that a company follows that stay unknown to the outside world. Example: the formula for how to make Coca-Cola.
As a company owner, you must ensure that whatever IP that you use for your business is properly (a) registered with the appropriate government agency, and (b) titled in in the name of the company.
So whenever you’re thinking about the IP for your business, first make sure you know which bucket your IP falls into. Then, you can figure out what you need to do to protect yourself.
In the next article, we’ll cover information about IP registration and titling.
