Contents
Sometimes a big corporation isn’t big enough for your brilliant ideas and you decide to go out into the free market and form your own startup. That’s great! You can now explore all options, work passionately on your interests and provide real-time value to the people. However, after the company registration procedure is done and dusted, there are still many issues surrounding the startup. One of these is the threat of someone stealing your idea and presenting to the world as their own. You wouldn’t want that now, would you? With this article, we’re going to look at Intellectual Property (IP) including trademarks, copyrights and patents and how they can help protect your startup idea.
The word “Intellectual Property” was first used in the 19th century however it wasn’t until the 20th century that term became a common usage and helped protect creations of intellect. Officially, Intellectual Property is defined as a class of property that includes intangible (lack of physical substance) creations of the intellect of an individual or an organization. These include patent, trademark, and copyright. Intellectual property can also encompass trade secrets, publicity rights, moral rights, and rights against unfair competition. The basic essence behind all the legal jargon is that your brilliant startup idea, your brainchild, is yours and yours alone and Trademark Registration, Patent Registration or Copyright Registration procedures can help ensure that they stay yours legally.
Before we get started with TradeMark Registration, let’s first ask yourselves What is a trademark? A trademark is basically a recognizable sign, design, expression which distinguishes them as unique and as an Intellectual Property of a particular individual or organization. The word “expression” constitutes slogan, photograph, logo, graphic, color combination, sound or even smell. In most cases, however, brands look to trademark the brand name or logos. For eg. Nike’s Slogan “Just do it” and their swoosh icon are all registered trademarks. Trademark registration can help protect your startup idea and the benefits could also ensure you form a company with the brand name of your choice.
NOTE: Trademarks for Services are called Service Marks(SM)
Here’s an explainer video to help you with trademark registration.
The procedure for trademark registration is simplistic and involves the following steps:
Patents are basically a type of intellectual property which prohibits others to replicate, selling, using or importing a particular invention or a revolutionary process. If you have invented a unique and a path-breaking system you should go for patent registration procedure. The rights of a patent are granted if they inventor/ owner discloses details about the invention to the general public.
Example of a famous patent that helped launched a billion-dollar business empire is Facebook’s Dynamically Generating a Privacy Summary
Below we present to you an explainer video on Patent Registration.
The procedure for Patent registration in India is not very complicated and it consists of the following steps:
Copyright is basically a class of Intellectual Property which provides protection against copy and distribution of a particular piece of content/ creation developed by a creator. Technically, there are various bundles of rights under Copyright like communication to the public, the rights of reproduction, adaptation, and translation of the work.
Copyright basically protects the following classes of work
Below we provide you with an explainer video on Copyright Registration
Personal details: This includes the Name, Address, and Nationality of Applicant. Applicant should specify the nature. Whether he is the owner or the representative?
Nature of the work: This includes class & description of the work, the title of the Work. In the case of a website copyright, give the URL of the website. You also need to mention the language of the Work
Date of Publication: Mention the date of Publication in internal magazines (if possible). Like a company magazine or a research paper submitted to a professor does not count as publication.
NOTE: Separate Application has to be filed for each piece of work.
Thus, it is easy to see that there are many rules and regulations regarding Intellectual Property which can help protect your startup idea. If done carefully, you can protect the Intellectual Property of your startup brilliantly and start building towards that billion-dollar business empire. All the best for your ventures! You can consider taking professional help on the legal formalities from our expert team. We specialize in Intellectual Property registration services like Patent registration, Trademark Registration, and Copyright Registration. If you prefer a more personal touch ring us up at +91-875008585 or e-mail at contact@legalraasta.com
“Perform a free Trademark Search before applying for it.”