Most results of creative or intellectual activity are protected by law. The rights of authors and copyright holders are regularly violated, although there are a sufficient number of different tools for cooperation in the field of intellectual property. In the case of copyright, such protection is established immediately after the creation of the object. For patent rights, protection is carried out upon registration of the object and entry of information about the copyright holder into the register. In the sense of regulatory regulation, protection of rights is understood as the establishment of a legal regime for the implementation of intellectual rights, while protection is measures primarily applied in the event of violation of rights. Protection of rights is a general legal order in the field of intellectual property, enshrined in regulations. Below we will consider the main aspects of the procedure for protecting intellectual property on an international level, in particular, the use of IT-technologies in this area and many other issues.
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Importance of IP Protection in International Business: Registering and Enforcing Intellectual Property Internationally
Intellectual property can become a source of profit – for example, if you sell an object or transfer the right to use it. Thus, the franchise owner may allow the franchisee to use the trademark. If you formalize intellectual property rights – register a patent, register a trademark, deposit copyright – this will help in the future to protect yourself from competitors. So, let’s look at the main categories of protection of intellectual property.
1. Patents.
A patent assigns the author the right to an object of intellectual property, certifies the priority and exclusive right to the object. The document can be issued to:
- inventions;
- utility models;
- industrial designs.
2. Personalization means.
There are five means of individualizing goods and services:
- trademark;
- commercial designation;
- company name;
- appellation of origin of the goods and geographical indications.
Trademarks generally cannot be registered by individuals because the marks are assumed to be for commercial use. However, the relevance of this aspect differs for each jurisdiction.
The following are protected by copyright:
- written and oral works;
- sound recordings;
- video recordings;
- images;
- IT-products, etc.
Copyright applies specifically to works, that is, the results of creative activity that are original and expressed in some tangible form. Copyright does not apply to ideas, methods, concepts, methods, processes, discoveries, principles, facts.
Nowadays, the development of information technology requires a revision of the principles of intellectual property protection. There are more and more objects of intellectual property, as well as ways of using them, and, consequently, opportunities to violate the interests of copyright holders. That is why global organizations have been created that deal with the protection of intellectual property rights. Protection of inventions, utility models, industrial designs and trademarks is possible only after their registration with the relevant government agencies.
To register a trademark, you need to send an application to the relevant government service for intellectual property. Before submitting an application, it is very important to check whether there are any similar marks in the registry database. The application must also indicate which categories of goods and services they apply to, their exact description, explanation of all abbreviations and transliteration if the Latin alphabet is used in the name.
IP registration processes have significant overlap across jurisdictions and include the following steps.
- Check for uniqueness and possibility of registration.
- Collect documents, pay fees and submit the application.
- Research of an intellectual property object by experts.
- Receiving a registration document.
Copyright can be deposited, that is, the date of creation of the work can be recorded. To do this, the author gives a copy of the work to a special archive and receives a certificate indicating the day of transfer.
Enforcement Strategies and Dispute Resolution
The creator of a work may allow a third party to make changes to it. And if exclusive rights are transferred to someone, the owner can use the work anonymously. The creator of the work can allow a third party to make changes to it. If exclusive rights are transferred to someone, the owner can use the work anonymously. Illegal use of someone else’s trademark or service mark, as well as the appellation of origin of goods or similar designations for similar goods is a violation of the law. The law provides for the following methods of protecting intellectual rights belonging to the group of personal non-property rights:
- recognition of law;
- restoration of the situation;
- suppression of actions that infringe on the right;
- compensation for moral damage;
- publication of a court decision on an infringement (a measure aimed at restoring the reputation and name of the author).
Protection of rights is possible only if the copyright holder confirms his own rights to the object. The protection of intellectual property should be based on a clear distinction between the methods of protection established by the legislator for different categories of rights. In the global understanding, the conclusion was formulated that the copyright holder cannot receive compensation for moral damage in the event of a violation of an exclusive right, since this method aims to protect rights only of a non-property nature.
Any strategy might be also used to protect rights.
- Evidence of authorship. This is the main way to protect your rights in court. Any data that confirms that you created the work before the offender copied it will help. For example, if you wrote text in electronic format, you can view the file metadata. They will show the document’s creation date and its owner.
- Terms of use. Treaty between visitors and creators of the online service. It establishes who owns what content, as well as the rights and responsibilities of the parties.
- As mentioned above – a patent. It can be obtained for an invention, industrial design or utility model. It gives the right to a company (or individual) to prohibit or allow someone else to use the invention. It allows companies to profit from the invention and dispose of it in any legal way.
- Trade secret. A special confidentiality regime within the company that protects know-how and corporate information from competitors.
There is also a know-how option. If a company chooses the know-how mode, it does not register the innovation and protects the secret only on its own. The know-how regime is valid indefinitely. It is beneficial if there is a unique service. On the other hand, you can lose everything if information leaks, in particular due to employees, partners or industrial espionage.
You need to think about protecting your product from the very beginning of working on it. Immediately sign agreements on the transfer of exclusive rights with employees, freelancers, and partners. Even if you download a contract template from the Internet, this will already reduce the risk of possible claims in the future. As soon as an industrially marketable product with world novelty appears, it is necessary to submit an application to the appropriate government agency.
Our experts are ready to provide you with comprehensive advice on any issues related to the protection of intellectual property and any copyrights. We will help you register any type of such property and accompany you every step of the way. Our goal is to protect your commercial project as much as possible. Contact us right now.
Article’s author is Denys Chernyshov – founder and CEO of the globally-famous organization Eternity Law International.