Any company's duty for extracting revenue from intellectual property and preventing others from doing so is critical. Intellectual property may come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Intellectual property, although being an intangible asset, may be significantly more valuable than a company's physical assets.
Because intellectual property may provide a competitive edge, it is closely guarded and safeguarded by the businesses that control it.
What is Intellectual Property?
Intellectual property is a wide term that refers to a company's collection of intangible assets that are legally protected against unauthorised use or application. A non-physical asset that a firm holds is known as an intangible asset.
Intellectual property refers to the idea that some products of human intelligence should be protected in the same way as physical property, often known as tangible assets, is protected. Legal safeguards for both types of property exist in most industrialised economies.
The legal consequences of stealing Intellectual Property:
Theft of intellectual property is punishable under intellectual property laws. Intellectual property theft and infringement offences are usually prosecuted as federal offences. They may have the following consequences:
- Fines for criminal offences;
- Depending on the nature of the charges, many years in jail may be imposed;
- Theft of property, papers, or materials and their seizure;
- A business's operating licence is revoked or suspended;
- The victim of the crime has filed civil charges (for instance, for lost business profits).
For other circumstances, other, more technical defences may be available. For example, if the defendant used a copyrighted object for an educational purpose, such as displaying a copyrighted video to a high school history class, a "fair use" defence may allow the defendant to escape responsibility.
These situations can be extremely complicated, necessitating the help of an attorney and/or a product specialist.
What can I do to protect my own IP?
For those who create and design their work, intellectual property rights are a prevalent sort of legal IP protection. These rights, on the other hand, have made a significant contribution to the world, particularly economically.
Many businesses in a number of industries rely on the protection of their patents, trademarks, and copyrights, while consumers may be confident in the quality of IP-backed products.
We'll highlight some of the most important methods to better grasp the benefits of IP and how you should take advantage of the protection that various sorts of intellectual property rights give.
- Patents
A patent owner has complete control over the commercialization of his or her property, including the ability to acquire and sell the patent or give a licence to the invention to any third party on mutually agreed-upon conditions.
- Trademark
A trademark might be language, a phrase, a symbol, a sound, a fragrance, or a colour scheme. A trademark, unlike a patent, can protect a group or class of items or services rather than just one product or technique.
- Copyright
- Franchises
- Trade secrets
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