By Rei Lantion
Let’s face it: you’re a busy writer, engineer, inventor, or other kind of creator.
You don’t have time to “waste” on things like jumping through the countless bureaucratic hoops of the United States Patent and Trademark Office just for a couple of pieces of paper that say you officially own what you already own.
Unfortunately for you, holding these beliefs can prove to be far more than just a slight impediment to future incorporation. Compared to simply dealing with the patent process, doing nothing can be utterly disastrous for the future of your company and your ideas.
Of course, intellectual property protections aren’t just about starving off danger. They’re also about monopolizing your great ideas and inventions in a litany of beneficial ways.
Let me explain!
The Dangers of Going Patent- or Copyright- Free
There are four primary areas of IP protection: patents, trademarks, copyrights and trade secrets. Each one functions differently and covers different creations. That said, as a general rule of thumb, all of the following dangers are present in each sphere.
No Copyright, No Lawsuit
It’s true that every individual work of art, writing, or line of code that you write is technically protected under common law copyrights; however, you would not be able to file a suit against anybody on the grounds of infringement unless you have officially registered your copyright.
This means that, if you decide to continue going along without copyright and you find out that somebody has been stealing lines of code out of your software development system and selling it as their own, there is little that you can do about it.
Competition Can Be Fierce
The entire point of intellectual property law is to allow creators to monopolize their ideas. This means that if somebody else comes along with a better, cheaper, or more efficient way of producing what you’ve made, that person cannot legally do so without your permission.
This is of particular importance to small businesses and start-ups that don’t have the financial capacity or existing infrastructure to produce the best or most efficient products at the cheapest prices but do have the ingenious minds capable of creating the ideas.
Owning Your IP Comes with Massive Economic Benefits
On the other hand, securing the official patents, trademarks, etcetera to protect ideas provides you with a major economic boost. Essentially, copyright functions as a government-backed monopoly over your idea, meaning that you are the only person who can put it to legal use.
Increased Profits
According to various statistics, almost 97% of patents never make any money at all, but those that do come out well and beyond in the green. The reason for this profitability is that when people want something and you’re the only one who can legally provide it they have to buy it from you.
Patents are not free, however, so many of these benefits will be somewhat offset by the patent cost. Of course, a couple of thousand dollars is still a tiny price to pay for the profits to be reaped when your firm is the only one producing your ideas.
Potential to Have Attorney’s Fees and Court Costs Reimbursed
On the chance that you do go to trial to sue a competitor for infringing on your copyright, patent, whathaveyou, you have the potential to convince the court to force the perpetrator to pay all of your legal expenses incurred throughout the duration of the lawsuit.
This is a benefit that is difficult to measure, but even minor settlements and court cases for independent individuals can result in tens of thousands of dollars spent on attorney’s fees and court costs. With the proper IP filings, that money can be reimbursed.
It’s a Simple Process
“Simple,” here, is a relative term. What’s a simple day’s work for an attorney might take you days, weeks, or even months to so much as start. Fortunately, there are plenty of attorneys out there to do all the heavy lifting for you.
In fact, J.D. Houvener, a Washington DC patent attorney, has said, “Patent attorneys are to patents what master chefs are to creme brulees. They can knock them out easy but inexperienced cooks struggle to even get started.”
How the Process Works
The question of how to patent an idea is often a daunting thought that causes many inventors to lose sleep, but it’s not actually that complicated. Rather, it’s labor-intensive.
First, you simply need to ensure that your idea is even eligible for IP registration. Then you’ll dredge through multiple databases to see if any of the thousands of existing patents are similar to the one that you have in mind.
From there, it’s just hour upon hour of research, paperwork, and then potentially two years of waiting and fees of several thousand dollars. Of course, attorneys can help to lighten the workload, shorten these waits, and lower those fees.
Requirements
The requirements behind securing your IP registration vary between copyrights and patents, trademarks and trade secrets, and even from patent to patent. While it’s hard to narrow down, the general gist of things is that your idea needs to satisfy each of the following requirements:
- It cannot be considered the “next logical step” in the evolution of an existing patent.
- It cannot have been disclosed the idea before applying for a patent.
- It must-have utility and have the potential to be at least somewhat marketable.
In Conclusion
Patents and other IP registration formats exist to prevent the dangers associated with the increased competition of the free and unregulated market. By registering your intellectual property with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, you can stave off these dangers.
But the benefits don’t stop there! By freeing yourself of these free-market threats and securing your government-backed monopoly over your ideas, you enable yourself or your firm to receive massive rewards in the form of profit and various other legal protections.
There are plenty of ways for firms to lose marketability, suffer decreases to market capitalization, and eventually go out of business. Don’t let your lack of intellectual property protections do this to you.