How to Protect Your Company’s Intellectual Property
Intellectual property (or IP) is any idea, design, discovery, or creative product that resulted from the original thought of a group or individual. It can include:
- Blog posts
- Ingredients
- Manuscripts
- Sound recordings
- Marketing strategies
- Sales processes, and
- Manufacturing techniques
If your company owns intellectual property that has economic value, it’s vital for you to protect it. Should you fail to do so, other people may use it (and profit from it) without your permission.
Here are three steps you can take to protect your organization’s valuable IP:
- Restrict Access to Your IP
The fewer people that have access to your company’s IP, the less likely it is to get stolen, lost, or deleted. As such, it’s always a good idea to restrict access to these assets, where possible.
The best method of limiting access will generally depend on the nature of the IP in question. For some assets, a digital rights management system is the most effective option. For others, a safe in a secure location may be a better fit.
Before you take this step, however, you may want to consult with a California business lawyer or an experienced security expert to determine who should have access to your assets.
2. Use Strong Nondisclosure Agreements
No matter how sensitive your IP may be, at least a few of your employees, contractors, vendors, or clients will need to access them. If you want to lower the risk of those individuals sharing your IP with a third party, you should have them sign a nondisclosure agreement (or NDA).
For the NDA to be valid, it generally needs to contain the following elements:
- The names of the involved parties
- Descriptions of the assets that are deemed to be confidential
- The scope of the individual’s confidentiality obligation
- The names of any items excluded from the agreement, and
- The term of the agreement
Your company’s attorney will be able to draft the NDAs and tell you who needs to sign them.
3. Register Copyrights, Patents, and Trademarks
While you are speaking to your lawyer about NDAs, you should also take a moment to ask them how you can protect your IP by registering a copyright, patent, or trademark.
Their advice will depend on the nature of your assets:
- Copyright: If your IP is a film, graphic, or song, your legal advisor is likely to recommend copyrighting it.
- Patent: If your asset is a product, machine, or component, your lawyer will likely suggest filing a patent with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
- Trademark: If you want to protect a slogan, logo, or catchphrase, your attorney will most likely recommend registering a trademark.
Once your copyright, patent, or trademark is granted, your company will have exclusive rights to its creations. Nobody else will be able to use them for commercial gain.
Your Knowledgeable California Business Lawyer
Do you need a skilled business attorney in San Diego to help you protect your company’s IP? If so, please don’t hesitate to contact the Semanchik Law Group. We have years of experience in the legal field, and we are ready to go to work for you!
To schedule a consultation with a member of our team, all you need to do is give us a call at (619) 535-1811 or send us a message online. We look forward to hearing from you!
