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If you are considering the benefits of intellectual property (IP), it is crucial to understand why IP is such a valuable asset for your business. Without IP, you could potentially be delaying your business’ growth and failing to protect your business assets adequately. Therefore, this article will discuss the benefits of IP for businesses today.
LegalVision’s Trade Mark Essentials Guide provides valuable information for any business looking to register or enforce a trade mark.
Why is Intellectual Property Important?
Intellectual property serves many important uses for a business, including:
- protection from competitors;
- marketing a business;
- building a brand;
- reflecting the ethos of a company;
- growing a business’ geographical base;
- providing exclusive use of IP assets; and
- assisting with a competitive advantage over competitors.
However, you should be aware of the legal protections that your IP rights provide in England for:
- logos;
- slogans; or
- other potential assets.
These particular examples of IP can be incredibly advantageous to your business and therefore require legal rights to protect them. Further, you can protect this type of IP through the Intellectual Property Office (IPO). Although, some types of IP, such as copyright, are automatic.
Intellectual Property as an Asset
IP rights are an increasingly important tool for businesses to protect their intangible assets, and can take the form of:
- logos;
- slogans;
- inventions;
- designs;
- artistic works; and
- creative works.
IP can often be the most valuable asset of a business. Therefore, you should strive to obtain the most robust form of protection for each asset your business owns.
For example, if you design shoes that are unlike any others currently on the market, it will be essential to register your design with the IPO. Doing this will ensure you have obtained maximum protection and guarantee your exclusive rights. If you fail to do this, your business could suffer financially.
Equally, if you have a logo, symbol or any other asset capable of being a registered trade mark, you should seek to register it. A trade mark aims to distinguish your brand from others in your industry. So, to prevent another business from using a highly similar or identical mark, it is strongly advisable to register your mark with the IPO.
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Planning For The Future Through Your IP Strategy
Your IP rights value also generates from the growth potential. An IP strategy involves organising your intangible assets and using them to generate future income. This can include things like:
- patenting an invention and, therefore, guaranteeing your own exclusive reproduction and manufacture for the foreseeable future;
- using your trade mark as a logo on packaging, advertising and marketing materials to build your branding; and
- protecting your product designs through registration protects against competitors and guarantees your legal protection against potential copycat designs.
IP is a valuable asset as you can use it to streamline and grow your brand. In addition, protecting your intangible assets can generate income almost immediately, as your IP rights can potentially protect your physical products or services.
Key Takeaways
Intellectual property within a business is usually a diverse range of intangible assets which grant the owner exclusive rights over usage, manufacture and supply. Therefore, while intellectual property assets are intangible, they can have the effect of protecting tangible assets within your business.
Intellectual property can also be a vital brand development tool to grow a consistent advertising and marketing campaign. For example, you can do this by registering trade marks for your business. You can also put your IP on products or the services you deliver to consumers to add an additional element of legitimacy to your business.
If you need help or advice protecting your intellectual property, our experienced intellectual property lawyers can assist as part of our LegalVision membership. You will have unlimited access to lawyers to answer your questions and draft and review your documents for a low monthly fee. Call us today on 0808 196 8584 or visit our membership page.
Frequently Asked Questions
You should seek to protect your intellectual property as quickly as possible. Indeed, it should be a priority to guarantee your exclusive rights over things like trade marks or design rights. Once you decide upon a design logo, you should begin the application process with the Intellectual Property Office.
Intellectual property can often be the most valuable asset a business owns. This is because IP often links to credibility, branding, and its own unique product or service. As a result, intellectual property is valued at millions of pounds for large businesses. Therefore, it should be considered a critical business asset.
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