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Running Head: PROTECTING INTELLECTUAL ASSETS 2

PROTECTING INTELLECTUAL ASSETS 2

Protecting Intellectual Assets

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Protecting Intellectual Assets

According to Jane Lambert (2010). An intellectual asset is defined as an investment made in designs, technology, brands or even any sort of creative works. Therefore, intellectual property is a collective phrase that is used to describe the laws that protect the value of suck kinds of assets (Lambert J., 2010). Intellectual assets can sometimes still be referred to as intangible assets, meaning that they are assets that cannot be touched or felt. Sometimes an individua’s closely held in-house procedures, that are naturally known as trade secrets, can be considered to be part of intellectual assets. When we talk about brands, we merely talk about things like names of companies, names of domains, company logos, master heads in newspapers, the names belonging to either clubs or restaurants. In short, they are any property that creates a goodwill. Technological intellectual assets comprise of machines, manufacturing procedures, mainframe products or even semiconductors.

Another intellectual asset is the designs; an example of an intellectual property or asset that can be defined as an investment in functional design is the layout of components of an electric circuit. Also, there exist the ornamental designs in this category that include shapes of vases, textures of garments as well as their texture. Moreover, creative works include made up situations or stories in novels, poems, plays, games, films or websites. To add to those, performances of dancers, actors and actresses, orchestras and singers either on stage or in their studios can be counted as intellectual properties. Governments have made laws that consider this type of assets and have enabled the owners to be protected for aa period of time (Leonard L., 2016). For instance, in Canada, industrial designs are protected for a period of ten years, whereas the copyrighted original creative works are protected for life, plus an extra fifty years after death.

Intellectual property rights do not defend either ideas or perceptions; rather, they protect business assets that appear to be genuine as well as crucial to one’s goods or services. Also, they shelter both the success and profitability of a business. There are various advantages that come with the securing of intellectual property, they include; first, it enhances the business’ market value (Nibusinessinfo.co.uk., 2019). This means that intellectual property can create more income for your business through ways such as sales, licensing, as well as commercialization of products and services that are protected. In turn, it will heighten the market share which will increase the profits. Also, it usually transforms ideas into assets that generate profit. Ideas typically have little value, unless intellectual assets turn them into commercially successful products and services. They get one a steady stream of royalties as well as additional income.

Intellectual properties also act to market a person’s business product or service. It is thus very significant in creating a good image for the business. This is done through a company’s logos, trademarks and designs which people will like and hence get the products. Moreover, intellectual assets lead to either access or raise of finances for the business. “You can monetize your IP assets through sale, licensing or using them as collateral for debt financing.” It is also capable of giving a person an advantage when they apply for grants, subsidies and loans from government funding. Additionally, intellectual assets could augment a business’ export opportunities by increasing its competitiveness in the export market. A company’s brands and designs can be used to market a business abroad, seek franchising agreements with companies from other countries which could lead to exportation of the products that are patented (Nibusinessinfo.co.uk., 2019).

This leads us to the various ways of protecting one’s intellectual properties. The following ways can be used by business owners to ensure that they don’t get their ideas, brands or designs stolen by competitors or criminals. First, a company could register for copyrights, trademarks as well as patents for their assets. These are the most common ways of shielding intellectual assets from being stolen (Copyrighted.com, 2019). Copyrights are normally applied when protecting both tangible and intangible creative works. Registering ones work this will allow them to validate their ownership particularly during legal disputes. Trademarks include symbols, designs, catchphrases and logos. These images frequently aid companies to link with their end-users, hence they should be protected from their saboteurs. Patents are usually used to protect unique products, machines, equipment or chemical compositions. They are usually valid for about fifteen to twenty years.

Moreover, a business could register the names of their business, products or domains. This is typically for the people that are starting a new business or company with their intellectual assets (Copyrighted.com, 2019). They therefore need to shelter their interests by registering these names since it will aid in securing them. For instance, Apple company did not own the domain apple.co.uk. until 2012 when they paid a huge amount of money for them to acquire it. Also, an intellectual asset owner could decide to generate a confidentiality, licensing and non-disclosure contracts with the partners and employees. This is normally when one does not want a particular information to be leaked into the public. Companies such as video game companies normally do this to prevent the public from finding out the sort of game they are developing. These agreements should be done in the presence of lawyers so that they agree to keep the information private.

Furthermore, the use of trade secrets as well as publicity rights can come in handy when protecting intellectual assets. Trade secrets examples include recipe, formula or proprietary pricing, and owners are required to safeguard them at all costs (Martin, E. J., 2019). trade secrets should be kept a secret by business owners by making the employees sign the non-disclosure agreements so that they could be kept a secret. Business personnel are also required to have the rights of publicity; this is because it will enable them to protect them from having their name, photographs, likeness or eve the overall identity used without their permission in a commercial manner. Implementing security measures is another way. This us customarily necessary to businesses that are coordinated using technology or even the internet. “There is a need to implement robust security measures within the IT framework of your company.”

A business owner should also tend to circumvent joint ownerships (Copyrighted.com, 2019). Intellectual assets could be created by and developed by more than one person; therefore, it will be owned by the two parties. This will ordinarily give each of them the power to copy, distribute, recreate or wield anything they want with the intellectual asset without consulting the other. It might then lead to loss of the asset or other problems that are associated. Also, the benefits as well as profits will have to be shared between the parties which will lead too a lot of complications within the company or business. It is therefore usually advised that one entity should retain the intellectual asset, even though it was a collaborative effort that led to the development of the product or asset. Intellectual assets will always be an advantage to the owner because it sets apart their company against their competitors.

References

Copyrighted.com. (2019, April 18). How to Protect Intellectual Property in 5 Different Ways. Copyright Registration, Protection, and Takedown Services.  https://www.copyrighted.com/blog/protect-intellectual-property

Lambert J. (2010, May 27). Intellectual Assets. IP/IT Update.  https://niptech.wordpress.com/intellectual-property/intellectual-assets/

Leonard L. (2016, December 2). What Are Intellectual Assets? QuickBooks Canada.  https://quickbooks.intuit.com/ca/resources/starting-business/what-are-intellectual-assets/

Martin, E. J. (2019, April 29). How to Protect The Intellectual Property of Your Business. https://www.uschamber.com/co.  https://www.uschamber.com/co/start/strategy/how-to-protect-intellectual-property

Nibusinessinfo.co.uk. (2019, May 30). Advantages of protecting intellectual property. nibusinessinfo.co.uk.  https://www.nibusinessinfo.co.uk/content/advantages-protecting-intellectual-property