How do I protect my Intellectual Property?
Depending on what idea you create, there are several ways in which to protect these ideas and creation.
They include
- Trade marks
- These are signs or symbols i.e. logo and brand names registered by a manufacturer or merchant to identify goods and services. Protection is usually granted for ten years and is renewal as long as the trademarks continue to be used
- Patents for new inventions
- A patent is an exclusive right granted for an invention –a product or process that provides a new way of doing something or that offers a new technical solution to a problem
- Registered designs for the design of products
- An industrial design right is an intellectual property right that protects the visual design of an objects
- Copyright for creative works such as books, paintings and music
- For a work to gain copyright protection it must be original and expressed in a fixed form – for example, in writing (whether print or electronic). Copyright protects the expression of ideas but not the idea itself.