Trade marks
A trade mark is a sign that can distinguish goods and services from those of other traders. A sign can include a combination of words, logos and pictures. To register a trade mark, it must be:
• distinctive for a group of goods and services
• not the same as (or similar to) any earlier marks on the register for the same or similar goods and services
A trade mark is a marketing tool which helps to develop and distinguish the brand.
The trade mark also provides reassurance for consumers. People will recognize products more easily when they see them advertised. For example, goods bearing the Nike 'tick' logo demonstrate they are Nike products and meet Nike quality standards. Entrepreneurs register trade marks, designs and logos to protect and represent their brands. Branding delivers huge commercial value to a company. Many people recognize brands rather than individual products or services. The benefits of having a registered trade marks are:
• It provides notice to everyone the entrepreneur has exclusive rights to the use of the mark.
• It establishes incontestable rights regarding the commercial use of the mark.
• It establishes the right to deposit registrations with customs to prevent importation of goods with similar mark.
Copyright
Copyright is an IP right that relates to the expression of an idea, not the idea itself. Copyright provides exclusive rights to creative individuals for the protection of their literary or artistic productions. For example, anyone can write a story based on the idea of a superhero, but they cannot copy the name, the text or illustrations from other books about the same subject. Copyright protects sound recordings, films, broadcasts, photographs and original artistic, musical, dramatic and literary works.
For the author of creative material to obtain copyright protection, the material must be in a tangible form so it can be communicated or reproduced. It also must be the author's own work and thus the product of his or her skill or judgment. Concepts, principles, processes, systems, or discoveries are not valid for copyright protection until they are put in tangible form-written or recorded.
Trade Secrets
Certain business processes and information cannot be patented, copyrighted, or trademarked. Yet they may be protected as trade secrets. Customer lists, plans, research and development, pricing information, marketing techniques, and production techniques are examples of potential trade secrets. Generally, anything that makes an individual company unique and has value to a competitor could be a trade secret.
Protection of trade secrets extends both to ideas and to their expression. For this
reason, and because a trade secret involves no registration or filing requirements, trade-secret protection is ideal for software. Of course, the secret formula, method, or other information must be disclosed to key employees. Businesses generally attempt to protect their trade secrets by having all employees who use the process or information agree in their contracts never to divulge it. Theft of confidential business data by industrial espionage, such as stealing a competitor's documents, is a theft of trade secrets
without any contractual violation and is actionable in itself.
The law clearly outlines the area of trade secrets: Information is a trade secret if (1) it is not known by the competition, (2) the business would lose its advantage if the competition were to obtain it, and (3) the owner has taken reasonable steps to protect the secret from disclosure
Licensing
Licensing is the practice of leasing a legally protected property (such as a trademarked or copyrighted name, logo, likeness, character, phrase or design) to another party in conjunction with a product, service or promotion.
It is based on a contractual agreement between the owner of the property (or its agent) known as the licensor; and a licensee – normally a manufacturer or retailer. It grants the licensee permission to use the property subject to specific terms and conditions, which may include the purpose of use, a defined territory and a defined time period. In exchange for this usage, the licensor receives financial remuneration - normally in the form of a guaranteed fee and/or royalty on a percentage of sales.
The benefit of licensing for licensors
The key benefit for a licensor is the ability to exploit and enhance its brand or property. Licensing can do this by:
• increasing its brand presence at retail or distribution outlet
• creating further brand awareness to support its core products or services
• supporting and enhancing its core values by associations with the licensed products/service or category (e.g. association with a healthy food or with a cutting edge mode of fashion)
• entering new markets (consumer or geographical) which were unfeasible with it’s own resources or capabilities
• generating new revenue streams, often with little involvement or additional financial or other resource implications
The benefit of licensing for licensees
The key benefit for a licensee (especially manufacturer or retailer) is the ability to significantly increase consumer interest in and sales of its products or services. Licensing can do this by:
• transferring the values and consumer favour towards the property to the licensed product or service
• providing added value and differentiation from competitive offerings
• providing additional marketing support or momentum from the core property’s activity provided by the licensor
• appealing to new target markets who have not historically been interested in a licensee’s product or service
• giving credibility for moving into new market sectors through product extension
• gaining additional retail space and favour
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