As a business owner or a principal, you most probably already cooperate or consider cooperating with contractors to aid in your business development. This article focuses on all the intricate details regarding intellectual property rights and how to get rid of the complexity of the process.
What are intellectual property rights?
To determine what intellectual property rights are, we must start with a brief definition of intellectual property. It is the ownership of a created piece of work, idea, or design. Whoever creates the above automatically is their owner. Therefore, thanks to intellectual property rights, such an owner can determine various aspects regarding their creation.
Intellectual Property Rights vs Copyrights – What Is the Difference?
Intellectual property rights are often referred to as copyrights. It is not entirely incorrect but is a significant simplification. Copyrights are only one type of many aspects that intellectual property rights consist of. They give the owner of the work the right to determine who, how, where, and for how long can use the created piece of work. What are other types of intellectual property rights?
The Types of Intellectual Property Rights
There are many aspects that the term ‘intellectual property’ covers. Therefore, the following types of rights can be distinguished:
Trademarks – ways to identify a given business by a logo, picture, phrase, name, etc. These businesses can create products with their logos or phrases on them. However, these specific ways cannot be used by other businesses or individuals.
Patents – the way to protect a given invention by its inventor. Patents not only allow to regulate the invention’s use but can also be sold. Every country has its system of patents and for the invention to be protected globally, an inventor has to buy the patent for that invention in every country. A patent can protect the rights of a patent owner for up to 20 years (the length depends on the country).
Industrial design rights – they protect the visual designs of objects that are of a utilitarian purpose. The design can have two or three dimensions and be used to create a product or a commodity of an industrial nature.
Trade secrets- information in the form of formulas, processes, designs, or any other form that is not generally known and used by certain businesses to obtain an economic advantage. It is often referred to as classified information.
Copyrights – as stated in the previous paragraph, these rights cover other people’s use of the created work. Thanks to copyrights, the author is protected in situations where others copy their creation without permission. Copyright laws are conducted in a way that makes it easy for authors to earn income from their work through the paid transfer of copyright. Therefore, it is a common practice to pay for the creation of work with the transfer of ownership.
How to transfer intellectual property rights?
From a business perspective, intellectual property protection is a vital part of the everyday life of any company. From trademarks and classified information to hiring a contractor or subcontractor, enterprises get tangled in intellectual property protection. For example, in the case of hiring contractors, one of the essential parts of the procedure leading to buying a piece of work is owning the right to its use. How to properly conduct the intellectual property rights transfer so the business is protected from possible infringements? There are two ways you can do it. Each one specifies slightly different terms of intellectual property rights transfer:
- Assignment– the property or rights are legally transferred from one person or entity to another. A legally binding agreement must have a written form.
- Licensing– the intellectual property is shared with another entity or person without transferring the ownership. The written agreement should clearly state the details of licensing and its conditions
There is a significant difference between the assignment of intellectual property rights and licensing of intellectual property rights.
An assignment is simply the sale of rights. The party that sold the intellectual property rights can no longer control how the other party uses them. They simply do not own the property or rights to the property they transferred. It also means that the creator loses the possibility to resell the work, lend it, or duplicate it.
On the other hand, a license is an agreement where the owner of the rights maintains the ownership but allows a third party to use the property and exercise some rights connected to it.
What are the consequences of intellectual property rights infringement?
Intellectual property protection is an important issue for many companies because intellectual property often holds an enormous value. Therefore, violating it is treated with utmost importance and the culprit can face a range of consequences. These can either be financial (payment of damages, fines, penalties, legal expenses, etc.) or legal (prison time or criminal monetary penalties). The type of consequences depends on the law of the country to which the property rights apply. In some countries, the violation of intellectual property rights can be sued only in the civil law courts. In other countries, such a violation can also be filed in criminal courts.
Useme – the perfect way to simplify the process
Whether you are interested in transferring or licensing intellectual property rights, your business must be properly protected. It requires appropriate agreements and clear conditions of transfer or license. Instead of drafting the agreements yourself, you should consider trusting an experienced platform, such as Useme. We streamline the rights processing for both parties. We give the Principal a clear distinction between the type of agreements (license or transfer) at the very beginning of the job assignment. This effortless and transparent process protects the companies from possible misunderstandings arising from intellectual property rights transfers.
Take away
The purpose of intellectual property rights is to give the creator the freedom to decide how and by whom certain work can be used. These rights can come in the form of patents, trademarks, trade secrets, industrial designs, or copyrights. The rights can be transferred (ownership sold) or licensed (use allowed). If someone violates intellectual property rights, they might face financial or legal repercussions. To ensure appropriate intellectual property protection, it is best to settle agreements through UseMe, which oversees the process and provides straightforward documentation.
