Changing so many hats at home and work to get everything done puts Catholic business moms at risk of overlooking important, non-urgent tasks.
Managing your intellectual property (IP) easily tops the list of ignored activities.
Understanding the basics of intellectual property now could save you a lot of money and heartache down the road.
So what is PI? Guy McClung, a patent and copyright attorney, defines intellectual property as “non-real, non-dirty, non-physical, intangible personal property resulting from mental processes.”
Atty McClung distinguishes the four types of intellectual property:
- Trademarks: a symbol or logo that identifies your company (trade names, trade dress)
- Trade Secrets: Anything of value to your business that you wouldn’t give to anyone for free. These include the people you include to purchase supplies, customer list, anything of value such as a device or process, a collection of information
- Copyright: applies to works of authorship (paintings, works of art, reports, brochures, books, anything produced that can be copied)
- Patents: deal with inventions (things, processes, methods)
Still not jumping off the couch to get into action?
Here’s why you need to have an IP plan:
- Short-term gain for long-term pain: Neglecting your IP needs now could mean that years down the line, as your business and brand flourish, you may be required to change your business name or logo in the event of a change. that infringes intellectual property. of other. This can have a disastrous effect on your followers and your bottom line.
- Give it away for free: Ignorance and inaction on copyright laws could lead you to screwed-up book deals where you could lose the rights to your published signature systems. Your content can also be stolen without credit or compensation simply because you failed to include a copyright symbol at the bottom of every document, website, and social media site.
- Giving the Farm Away: Failing to recognize what trade secrets you have and how to keep them protected could easily land you with former employers without signed disclosure statements and walk away with client lists, processes, procedures, and contact lists that took you years to amass. Even carelessness with computer security protection could compromise your intellectual property in the hands of the wrong person.
Don’t get that itch: “Oh no, I’m doing a lot of things wrong feeling bad and I already have a lot to do!”
An Intellectual Property Plan does not have to be stressful.
