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Koroll & Company Blog

4 Common Legal Mistakes Made by Small Businesses: Legal Mistake #4 Not Registering Intellectual Property Rights

[fa icon="calendar"] Aug 30, 2019 11:00:00 AM / by Allen Koroll

A business plan

As a business, you have the legal right to your ideas, innovations, and designs, not to mention the elements that represent you as a brand - names, images, models and symbols. While intangible, these intellectual assets have value and give you a competitive edge. That is why you need to protect it.

But to protect your intellectual property you must ensure it has been properly registered.

In Canada, there are four primary protections for intellectual property and the one you require will depend on the type of asset you are protecting.

1 - Copyrights

Copyrights protect original work of the literary, dramatic, musical and artistic nature. It can also extend to other intellectual works by giving you the sole right to decide how it is used and whether it can be copied, i.e. reproduced.

A unique element of copyrights is that your work is automatically copyrighted upon creation. If, however, you wish to sue another party for using your work, or a portion of it, you must register that copyright so that the issued certificate can be used as proof of ownership.

The life of a copyright is your lifetime plus 50 years following your death, at which point the work becomes public domain, with some exceptions.

Intellectual property that can be copyrighted by a business include books, reports, audio/video materials, computer programs, drawings, etc.

2 - Trademarks

Trademarks protect words, names, symbols, designs, colours, etc. that distinguish one company’s goods or services from another. This is important as it helps customers distinguish your brand in the marketplace and protects your brand’s reputation. Before you can register for a trademark, you must first do a trademark search to ensure that the elements of your brand, that you are trademarking, are not already being used. Trademarks grant exclusive rights for up to 10 years and can be renewed.

Intellectual property that can be trademarked includes business names or slogans, logos and other branding as it relates to your company or a specific product.

3 - Patents

Patents are property rights that protect an inventor by giving them exclusive rights to their new innovations and improvements on current innovations for up to 20 years. This means that any process, product, machine or chemical composition that you have developed cannot be developed or used by someone else.

Intellectual property that can be patented includes new, useful and inventive innovations.

4 - Industrial designs

Industrial designs protect the look of your product and distinctive features, such as its contour, pattern or shape (i.e. shape of an Apple computer, stripes on Hudson Bay blanket, etc.). This right can last up to 15 years.

Intellectual property that can be patented includes products with a unique appearance.

By protecting your intellectual property, you can control how it is used, gain a competitive edge, prevent competitors from using it or closely imitating it and increase your brand’s chances of success.

For more information on the importance and financial impact of copyrights, trademarks, patents and industrial designs, contact us today.


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The information presented is only of a general nature, may omit many details and special rules, is current only as of its published date, and accordingly cannot be regarded as legal or tax advice. Please contact our office for more information on this subject and how it pertains to your specific tax or financial situation.



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Topics: Small Business

Allen Koroll

Written by Allen Koroll