Types of Intellectual Property (IP)

In the US, intellectual property rights violation awards can reach eight figures. (Business Insurance) There are four main types of IP rights. Which one to choose to protect your IP depends on what you are protecting: a slogan for your business, your granny’s recipe for pop tarts or a new operating system.

Trade secrets (Uniform Trade Secrets Act and Defend Trade Secrets Act)

A trade secret may be a recipe, formula, technique or process you don’t want anyone to know about. According to commercial law firm Lewis Roca Rothgerber Christie LLP, there are two types. The first are secrets that for some reason don’t fulfill the criteria for being patented, e.g. they aren’t inventive enough. The second are secrets so hush-hush, an inventor does not wish to patent them. One of the main reasons an inventor would choose to keep an invention a trade secret is because patents expire, trade secrets don’t. The classic example is Coca-Cola, which is not patented. If it had been at the time of its invention in 1886, the formula would have been in the public domain 20 years’ later, as patents are time limited.

According to The Hustle, in 2007, three Coca-Cola workers were sent to prison for offering Pepsi insider information about a new Coca-Cola product. They were indicted for wire fraud and conspiracy to sell trade secrets. The trio received sentences between five and eight years, and had to pay restitution. The most interesting thing about this case was that it was Pepsi who tipped Coca-Cola off about being offered insider information.

Patents (United States Patent and Trademark Office)

Protects against the exploitation or use of a new or innovative invention, like an idea or product, for a period of 20 years. In exchange, the inventor must make full disclosure of their invention. When the patent expires, the information can be used by anyone. In a competitive industry like technology or medicine, an organization would prefer to patent their invention before their competitor (working on a similar product) does. In the pharmaceutical world, drug companies use the technique of evergreening to extend the life of their medical patents, e.g. by patenting modifications. An average of 3500 patents are published weekly in the US.

Trademarks (United States Patent and Trademark Office)

Essentially branding collateral, e.g. logo, name, lyrics, colors. A classic example is the Nike checkmark. A trademark allows you to use the registered trademark symbol.

Twitter was unable to trademark the word “tweet” as another company, Twittad, had already trademarked “let your ad meet tweets”. So, Twitter went to court, claiming it had been using the word “tweet” long before Twittad. The courts didn’t agree. The two companies eventually settled their differences out of court and in 2011, Twittad subsequently transferred the registration of the “tweet” trademark to Twitter.

Automatically protects authors of intellectual works, e.g. literary, music, sculptural, computer software and images.     

Napster – a file-sharing site – was sued by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for allowing users to download files for which Napster did not have copyright. Napster lost and now charges a download fee, which it uses to pay licensing fees. While you could weigh up the cost of infringing another organization’s copyright versus the cost of coming up with your own original “next best thing”, legal fees could put you, as they did Napster, temporarily out of business.

What is the importance of IP?

“Intellectual property has the shelf life of a banana.” Bill Gates

Fosters innovation – Without IP, organizations would not bother so much about investing in Research and Development that could be copied and improved on by competitors Compensates innovators and artists – Without IP, individuals and corporates would suffer the loss of royalties for music, design, books, scientific research, new technologies, etc. Protects consumers – IP ensures consumers are not at risk from unsafe, insecure clones of products, e.g. medicine or counterfeit machine design Ensures competition – Organizations cannot compete efficiently in the marketplace if their branding is copied by the competition

10 tips to protect your IP

Reported by USA Today, ‘According to the 2017 report of the Commission on the Theft of American Intellectual Property, the annual cost to the United States economy of IP theft alone “could be as high as $600 billion.”’          

Sources

How Much Does a Patent Cost: Everything You Need to Know, Up Councel 10 Effective Ways To Protect Your Intellectual Property, Forbes Ten tips for protecting your intellectual property, Marketing Donut Uniform Trade Secrets Act, Evergreening, Defend Trade Secrets Act and 1-Click, Wikipedia United States Patent and Trademark Office, USPTO Patents vs. Trade Secrets – Giving Your Business the Competitive Edge, Lewis Roca Rothgerber Christie LLP The botched Coca-Cola heist of 2006, The Hustle Twitter vs Twittad Lawsuit Ends, Twitter gets “Tweet” Trademark, Internet Marketing Inc. Top 5 Intellectual Property Disputes, Legal Zoom Recent US patents, Free Patents Online China must stop forcing U.S. firms to share intellectual property, USA Today Intellectual Property Quotes, Brainy Quote Multinationals overlooking intellectual property risks, Business Insurance