Does My Business Need to Be Concerned with Intellectual Property Issues?

Many companies that are not technology driven believe they have no reason to be concerned with intellectual property matters. After all, their product cannot be patented or copyrighted. But is your product the only thing that needs protection? Aren’t there other types of intellectual property? What about user manuals? Should they be copyrighted? Do you need to protect infringement of something written in your newsletter or some other publication? And what happens if one of your employees plagiarizes when publishing something under the company’s name? These things may seem trivial but have tripped up companies in the past.

One of the most overlooked types intellectual property is that involved with branding. Most business people know that trademarks can be registered to protect a company’s brand but many do not bother registering their own name or logo. I would also, be willing to bet that most small businesses have no idea of the extent of registered “marks”. Not only are there trade marks, but service marks, color marks and collective marks. For instance, Caterpillar Yellow and John Deere Green are registered as part of their intellectual property portfolio.

For years, Waukee Community Schools in Iowa was using a “W” on all of there athletic uniforms, school promotional clothing and publications. A few years ago they, along with other schools were ordered to discontinue use of that particular “W” design or face legal action by the University of Wisconsin, even though it was purple not red, as is Wisconsin’s. You see the University of Wisconsin had registered that particular “W” design as a logo, regardless of color.

Some businesses that have protected the intellectual property in their product forget that they have other property to protect. I was on the board of directors of a software company about ten year ago. This company had many registered copyrights on its software algorithms. One day in a board meeting the President stated that a competing company was infringing on the brand name of our primary product line. When I asked whether we had registered the trademark, he replied, “No, they actually have it registered.” Guess what, we were the infringing party.

Finally, many companies have intellectual property that cannot be registered such as trade secrets and confidential information. This property may not have the protection of a patent, copyright or trademark, but it may have some limited legal protection depending on measures taken by the company to keep it out of other’s hands. If you have a secret recipe or a confidential customer list, you may need to understand what safeguards should be taken to protect this information.

I am not an attorney and would never opine on whether your company has intellectual property or needs an intellectual property attorney. I have served on over a dozen company boards and have seen companies caught with their pants down. I do think it is prudent for any business that has a question about intellectual property to speak to a qualified attorney about your particular situation.