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How to protect your inventions... |
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A business is usually built on the. process, idea or vision
of a single entrepreneur. But these days, new processes or ideas often become
available around the world very quickly, because they are stolen. imitated or
copied. |
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That's why it's vital for an innovative company to understand
the legal tools to protect these ideas - trademarks, copyrights and
patents. |
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Trademarks are words or designs that distinguish a
product or service from its competition in the market- place and also indicate
its source. An example would be Loblaws Cos. Ltd.'s President's Choice food
brand. |
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The best trademarks are words or designs that either have no
meaning at all, or have a meaning or appearance completely unrelated to the
underlying product. An example would be Xerox copiers. |
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These most effective trademarks are more effective at
distinguishing your products or services, and are better able to prevent
competitors from using similar names. |
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Copyright applies to original literary, dramatic,
musical and artistic works including sales material, articles, drawings, or
software designs. Any time you create an original work you automatically get a
copyright in that work. This means that nobody has the right to copy or use
it. |
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However, copyright does not protect the ideas embodied in
the work. You could not stop someone from writing about the same thing in his
own words. The author usually owns The owner-manager the copyright, but if the
author is an employee, copyright will usually belong to the employer. |
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Patents protect underlying ideas to the extent such
ideas are new and not obvious. For example, the idea of making the glue tacky
in a Post-It note is not obvious. Patents cover all manner of methods,
machines, articles, and compositions, but not scientific principles or business
schemes. |
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Protective measures |
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There are several things you can do to protect ideas through
trademarks, copyrights, or patents:
- Start by determining if there is any area of your business
where these protections might apply. For example, if you hire someone to create
a new video, who owns the rights to the content
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You may assume that because you paid for the production, the
rights are owned by you. Not necessarily. If the contract is not specific on
this matter, the person you hired owns the copyright on the creative content of
the video and you would lose a valuable asset.
- Establish a relationship with a top law firm that specializes
in this field. Registrations can be a tricky process. An expert can properly
advise you on your rights under the law to ensure that proper registrations are
in effect, and that the intellectual property is being used properly.
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Two years ago, Bell Canada had several of its trademarks
expunged as a result of unauthorized use and loss of distinctiveness - they
were widely used by other phone companies - which caused it to lose the
exclusive right to these trademarks.
- Make sure employees sign an appropriate employment contract
which clearly states that all trademarks copyrights or patents that they may
help develop are the exclusive property of your company.
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For example, it is common practice in the software industry
for sought after programmers and systems people to take an employer's
proprietary information with them when they move to new jobs. If you have an
appropriate employment or consulting contract signed with each individual, you
can stop them from using this information at their next job.
- When presenting new ideas or concepts to prospective purchasers
or partners, make sure they sign an appropriate confidentiality agreement
before they receive any material. This may be difficult to obtain but it is
necessary. In a number of cases, prospective purchasers have simply stolen the
seller's ideas or creativity and used it as their own.
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If you have documented proof that you created and presented
the innovation to the organization before it worked on it, you will have
important evidence that will help win in court. |
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In one case, two partners created some material, but the
partnership then broke up. One partner sold some of the material that had been
created by the other one. A lawsuit followed. The case was settled out of court
quickly when the creating partner produced documents to prove he was the
author.
- When you have a trademark, copyright or patent, it is
important to use the appropriate symbols to identify them as such. The symbol
for a trademark is or ® if it is registered. For a copyright, it
makes sense to place a © followed by the year of first publication and the
name of the copyright owner.
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Patented items carry no particular symbol but the product's
patent status should be specified at every opportunity. If the patent has been
applied for but not yet issued, you could use "Patent pending." |
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In obtaining a trademark or patent, your lawyer performs a
search to see if any similar marks or patents exist. If the search is clear,
the lawyer will file the appropriate documents with various government
authorities, review and respond to any inquiries from government examiners and
obtain confirmation that the marks or patents have been successfully
registered. |
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The length of the process will vary depending on the items
being protected, but six months to two years is not an unusual time frame. |
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Make sure you discuss with your lawyer the potential to
register in other jurisdictions. There are standard conventions and agreements
between various countries to provide for this. If you do not register, you have
no Protection in those countries. |
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Published November 10, 1997 |