Intellectual Property Day, held annually on the 26^th of April by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), is an awareness day that businesses all over the world wholeheartedly support. The idea of intellectual property, which is often shortened to IP, includes the ideas and creations that corporations offer which are very difficult to protect.

The best way to understand the importance of protecting Intellectual Property is to take a closer look at its component parts, and identify the challenges that go along with protecting the ideas and abstract creations of corporations all over the world.

Copyrights

Copyrights are complicated because they attempt to protect an expression and not an idea. Copyrights can work together with trademarks to protect a company’s IP, but there are different laws around the world that can make the process of getting a copyright and trademark extremely difficult and expensive.

Copyrights are primarily used as ways to protect artistic expressions such as music, writings, paintings, sculpture, advertising slogans, computer programs, and dance choreography. The idea behind the creation of these works, if it was possible to protect the idea, would usually fall under a patent.

Copyrights can either be economic or moral. An economic copyright states that the creator can derive an income from their creation, while moral copyrights allow a creator to have final say over any changes to their creations. Most copyrights are economic and are used widely in the corporate world.

Most governments around the world recognize copyrights as being universal. A copyright registered in the United States is usually recognized in most other countries. However, it is always a good idea to protect your IP completely by registering it in any country you intend to use it.

Patents

Patents are used to protect the process of creating a product, or any other kind of unique way of doing something. For example, a company that develops an innovative way of selling a product could file for a patent on that method to protect others from using it without that company’s approval.

The purpose of a patent is to stop anyone else from utilizing a unique idea to make money without the written consent of the idea’s creator. It should be noted that patents are territorial and must be applied for and maintained all over the world.  You should file patents in every geographic region to truly protect your invention.

Trademarks

One of the least understood areas of protecting IP is trademark law. Trademarks are used to protect mostly marketing property such as company names, logos, marketing images, and anything that would represent the company to customers.

The Madrid System is an international network of trademark offices that allow companies to file for trademarks in every part of the world. Trademarks are like patents in that they have to be filed with each geographic region to protect the IP completely. The other option is to file individual trademark applications with each office, which many companies choose to do because it can ultimately be a more reliable way of protecting IP.

Intellectual Property Day brings awareness to very important issues within the corporate world. Companies hope that by raising awareness for the importance of protecting IP, more people will help to keep the instances of IP theft down and protect the hard work done by companies all over the globe.

Bizwiki lists attorneys in your area who will be able to assist you with all your legal requirements relating to Intellectual Property protection, copyright and trademark law.