There are numerous benefits to intellectual property protection. Through it, your business enhances its market value. Other than that, it also increases your likelihood of developing profit-making assets from your ideas. Additionally, it also offers you an opportunity for marketing your business, products, and services. In many ways, you need it for brand protection. Nevertheless, before delving into these benefits deeper, you may want to understand the different types of intellectual property protection that exist in the first place.
Trade Secrets
If you’re running a business, then you might be aware of the tons of information that you encounter on a daily basis. Most likely, your business runs on all that information. Some of the information, however, needs protecting. Otherwise, it could fall into the wrong hands, which could portend bad news for your business. In this regard, trade secrets are worth it for any business that values the type of information it relies on to stay alive. A few examples of trade secrets include:
- Soda formulas
- Computer algorithms
- Survey results
- Customer lists
Trademarks
Trademarks are essential for distinguishing between two or more different businesses or competitors. They distinguish services and products between various competitors who operate in the same industry. Trademarks are ideal for unique and distinctive marks that define and separate your brand from any other. Often, they benefit parties that believe in brand enforcement. Nevertheless, you should conduct intensive research to ascertain if similar marks exist before registering your trademark. The law allows you to sue for trademark infringement!
Copyrights
Copyrights provide the most effective form of protection to all original works. Mostly, they revolve around works involving authorship. In this category, you could protect intellectual properties to your music, literary works, and pantomimes. Additionally, you could also file for it to protect all your dramatic works. Copyrights tend to be the most popular or widely known of all types of intellectual property protection because of the body of work involved. In addition to the above, it’s also worth registering if you intend to protect your rights to the following:
- Sculptural works
- Graphic works
- Sound recordings
- Artistic works
- Architectural works
- Computer software
- Pictorial works
Patents
If you wish to enjoy intellectual property protection to your inventions, then the best type to file would be your patents. With your patents registered and in place, you are likely to ensure that nobody ever replicates your inventions. More than that, your enjoy protection against brand abuse. Importantly, you also get a chance to prevent anyone who wishes to use any of your inventions without getting express permission from you. Here, your options include utility, design, and plant patents. Make sure you get online brand protection services\company!