Protecting Your Intellectual Property

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Copyright. This is a tangible expression of an idea; a movie, song, book, or magazine. A "raw" work can't effectively be copyrighted. For example, a script can only be truly copyrighted once there is a tangible expression of it, so once it is used in a play or movie it has now crossed over to being tangible and can be copyrighted. The rumor that if you change every 15th word you can break a copyright is not true. It only costs about $40 to file a copyright.

Trade Secrets. These are formulas, like the Coca-Cola (KO) recipe. The best way to protect trade secrets is to secure them away. But often you can't—they are key to your business. With our Coca-Cola example, workers have to mix the formula regularly, so the trade secret recipe cannot be kept under lock and key. A trademark protects the Coca-Cola brand, which is the vehicle that delivers the trade secret in tangible form to the market. If your trade secrets can be documented, be sure to stamp documents with the words "TRADE SECRET" if you are showing them to a business partner. How do you protect your employee from going to a competitor and sharing your trade secrets? Have them sign a proprietary information and inventions agreements.

Patents. This is a massive area of the law. The U.S. Constitution empowers Congress to provide a patent system to secure, "for limited Times to …Inventors the exclusive Right to their … Discoveries." The patent statutes, as enacted, provide for three types of patents: utility, design, and plant. To obtain the most common type of patent, the utility patent, an invention must be new, useful, and non-obvious and fall within one or more of the categories of process, machine, manufacture, and composition of matter. In addition, the patent applicant must provide a written description of the invention, a description of how to make and use it, and disclose the "best mode" for practicing the invention. A valid and enforceable U.S. patent provides its owner with the right, among others, to exclude others from making, using, selling, or offering for sale the patented invention in the U.S. and its territories. The remedies for patent infringement can include one or more reasonable royalties, lost profits, and injunctions. Patents are pricey, but worth it. Budget $10,000 to $30,000 per patent you plan to file.

Protect your assets by having your employees, contractors, and business partners sign a proprietary information and inventions agreement. Then bring an IP-savvy attorney onto your team to ensure your assets are covered!

Christine Comaford, CEO of business accelerator Mighty Ventures is the author of the best-selling book Rules for Renegades. She invites you to participate in her next Q&A call by registering at www.AskChristineNow.com. She writes her column on small business growth strategies every other week.