5 ways to get the most out of your Intellectual Property rights

April 25, 2018

5 ways to get the most out of your Intellectual Property rights

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• Registration: many IP rights are capable of being registered, such as trade marks.  Registering your IP rights will assist you in stopping other parties from infringing your brand.
• Keep records: some IP rights (such as copyright and some design rights) are not capable of being registered, and therefore if you want to protect your IP rights it will be useful to have records of exactly what you have developed, and when.
• Audit: consider completing an audit to clarify exactly what IP rights you own, and how much it is worth to your business.  You might be surprised to find you have a raft of IP rights outside of your trade mark.
• Licence: if you are contracting with a third party to use your IP rights, make sure that you draft an appropriate licence to ensure that you do not inadvertently give away more than you intend to.
• Take steps to protect it: using symbols such as ™ (for trade marks) and © (for copyright) you will demonstrate that you are aware of your IP rights and suggests you are likely to defend them – this may discourage a third party from infringing your IP rights.