Home business owners create value in everything they do. Part of this value is every new and innovative idea, product, solution or service which home business owners invent, develop, perfect, and offer to their clients. This is how humanity progresses, after all – through innovations and brilliant ideas.
However, there is one issue we need to discuss today, and that is the protection of your rights as inventor. Every idea or product you put out on the market can and will be copied and resold by others without acknowledging your right of ownership. This is why we have a complex system of protecting these rights, through the registration of trademarks, patents and intellectual property rights.
Today we will show you what you need to do in order to make sure that your intellectual property is safeguarded against unauthorized use.
1. Perform a Background Check for Every New Idea
Sometimes you have a great idea for a product or service – no matter what it is. You decide to register it as your patent, and along the process you discover that it has already been registered by someone else. That is the problem with many would-be business ideas: somebody else discovered them before you and, even if you had no idea of that, you still cannot use a patented idea without contacting the owner and paying royalties.
2. Keep All the Records of Your Work in Progress
When you register a patent or trademark, you need to prove that you are the author of that idea. These records consist of your initial drawings, notes, and every kind of document in which you continued developing your product or service. Since most of the work nowadays is done on a computer and there is a record of the date when a document is created embedded in its Properties data, you can easily prove exactly when you came up with the idea and how long it took to develop it.
3. Register Your Trademarks at State and Federal Level
Trademarks are: the design of your logo, the name of your business, your business motto (if it is an original one you developed), and the exact combination of colors you use on your logo, website, letterheads, and marketing materials. All these trademarks represent the unique image of your small home business – your brand image, as it is.
4. Prepare Documents to Protect Your Intellectual Property Rights
Even as a home business owner working for yourself, you will need the help of other professionals – for example to build your website. You must state clearly that you will become and remain the owner of the copyrights for the design, text, images and any other aspect of your website. Likewise, when you sell your products to clients, they must be accompanied by a notice that you hold the copyrights and intellectual property rights for these products.
5. Register Your Patents and Copyrights
This is a complex procedure because you should identify every territory where your products may be delivered. Since most home-based businesses are selling digital properties, these could be “delivered” virtually anywhere around the globe.
Initially, you should file for the registration of patents and copyrights in the US and then consult with a specialist in international intellectual property laws to find out what further steps you need to take. However, please note that even US registration of patents can take up to several months, so remember to start this procedure ahead of time, so that you are fully protected when you start running your business.
Of course, despite all your best efforts and diligence, some people will still infringe your intellectual property rights. It is up to you to determine how far it is worthwhile to pursue each case separately by consulting with a lawyer specialized in copyrights and intellectual property rights.