Protection of IP

It is essential for a business to know how to protect and understand the importance of intellectual property (IP).

Firstly, IP can be protected using a range of legislation that is available depending upon what type of IP it is. Such acts include the Copyright Act, Patents Act, Trademark Act. These acts offer great protection to anyone wanting to protect there IP, recently my cousin used the patents act to patent a desk design he created.

However there are dealings with internal and third parties that need to be kept confidential that unfortunately do not fit into these acts. This is done with confidence agreements, express and implied contracts. These define who is authorised to know the information, why they should know, and how long the information should remain confidential and there fore should not be general but very specific (Roberts, 2002). This has helped my cousin in determining who is allowed to know about the patent in pending, and hold them accountable if they leak the designs.

Secondly, if the business does not understand who owns IP in business dealings they can lose a lot of money and not legally own the work that they paid for. Unless dealt with in the contract, the creator of the work is the owner of the work, even with employees (Groom, 2008). Therefore if the firm wants to make modifications to the work at a later date, but did not make sure they are the owners of the work in the contract, they would be doing so illegally. As a result the firm should always make sure who the owner of the IP is in the contract.

In conclusion, it is important for businesses to be educated on both these issues.

Roberts, B. (2002). Protecting the crown jewels. Electronic Business, 28(11), 52-55. http://search.proquest.com/docview/194238919?accountid=13380

Groom, S. (2008). How to reward inventive employees. Managing Intellectual Property, , n/a-n/a. http://search.proquest.com/docview/233242567?accountid=13380

Additional Readings:

This is how small businesses can protect there IP effectively:
http://www.smallbusiness.wa.gov.au/strategies-to-protect-your-ip/