Intellectual Property
Intellectual property + what that means to you
All businesses hold Intellectual Property (IP), whether it’s in their specific creations, designs, inventions, documentation, presentations or their technical information and processes in performing a service.
Many business owners take it for granted that their IP will always stay theirs and don’t think about the threat to their business if their IP or business know-how is taken and copied by clients, employees, or competitors. IP is an essential part of the value of your business, and it’s crucial that you put in place adequate protections to prevent this valuable business asset being lost to your business.
We can protect your business’s IP in the following ways:
- Ensuring all of your Employment Agreements, Independent Contractor Agreements and Joint Venture Agreements contain appropriate clauses covering intellectual property and confidentiality;
- Through the use of post-employment restraints in employment agreements in order to prevent employees soliciting clients or supplier networks and using them in a competitor’s business, or in setting up their own business;
- Preparing customised agreements and licenses protecting your intellectual property while being used by outside businesses or customers;
- Making trade mark or patent applications on your behalf through IP Australia; and
- Providing you with specific legal advice on how best to protect your business’s intellectual property and know-how.
For more information on the many services Canny Insight can provide to your business, check out our Blog:
Intellectual Property FAQs
What Is Considered Intellectual Property?
Intellectual Property regers to any “creations of the mind” – but to be more specific, can be the creation of any literary and artistic works, designs, symbols, inventions, processes or ideas, names or images.
How Do I Protect My Intellectual Property?
There are two main ways to protect intellectual property.
The first is through a formal registration, such as the registration of trademarks, copyright and patents, or through registering business names and purchasing domain names.
The second is by having intellectual property clauses included in your written agreements with customers and other businesses your business engages with – i.e. Service Agreements, Independent Contractor Agreements, and your general terms and conditions, terms of trade, terms of engagement or website terms of use.
Why Do I Need To Protect My Intellectual Property?
Many businesses operate solely around their intellectual property, and in this way it can be your most valuable asset.
If you are selling goods, such as art or literature, or designs or inventions of your own, you need to ensure that these are protected because your whole business relies on the sale of these products.
if you sell services, such as web design, or consultancy where you provide materials or improved processes to your clients, intellectual property will be integral to your business.
Even if you have invented a new process or way of doing things, you will want to protect that from being replicated and used by other businesses.
These are all creations of your wind and protecting them ensures their value remains with your business.
What Types of Intellectual Property Are There?
IP Australia regulates the types of intellectual property that can be registered.
The types of IP that can be registered with IP Australia are trademarks, patents, design rights and plant breeders rights.
Copyright does not need to be registered under Australian law as the creation of copyright rests with the creator automatically.
However, having written agreements containing intellectual property clauses confirms your ownership of any copyright that may exist as a result of your work, and prevents clients from using that copyrighted material without your express permission, or for a fee under a licence.
Why Is Intellectual Property Important?
Recognising the intellectual property that you have created means you add value to your business as your intellectual property then becomes a tangible business asset.
What might seem to you to be an obvious technique or a more simple way of doing things, is actually a creation of your mind, and therefore is intellectual property you should protect.
Having your Terms of Engagement or Service Agreements confirm your ownership of such processes and inventions or any other potential intellectual property created in the course of your engagement, means you are confirming your ownership of that intellectual property and protecting it as an asset of your business.
Who Owns Intellectual Property?
The creator of the intellectual property usually owns that intellectual property, however, there are some important exceptions.
If another person confirms their right to that intellectual property by registering it first, they will then legally own it.
For example, with trademark registration, if another entity registered a trademark of a very similar logo or phrase, you may not be allowed to register yours which means you have lost this intellectual property as a business asset.
Similarly, if you are contracting or working as an employee for another entity, they may have required you to confirm all of your creations during the course of your work with them are actually owned by them.
These types of rights often exist in employment agreements, or if you’re a contractor, in Service Agreements or Independent Contractor Agreements – which is why having a lawyer review these documents is crucial in order to stop you assigning your intellectual property to another business.
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