Building Assets in the Information Age
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One of the chief tenets of building a business in the Information Age (we have gone from Agrarian to Industrial to Infomation) is to protect your ideas and intellectual property through patents, copyrights, trademarks and trade dress. One of the aims of a business is to build cash flowing assets that can deliver income whether you are present or not (the system runs the business). These assets can include your intellectual property which "present licensing opportunities for the protected work and provide hard assets which increase the value of your company if it is ever sold." (1)
The Major Types of IP
1. Copyright - the legal right granted to an author, composer, playwright, publisher, or distributor to exclusive publication, production, sale, or distribution of a literary, musical, dramatic, or artistic work. (2) It is important to note that copyrights do not protect ideas or systems.
Business Example: You publish a book, obtain a copyright and sell it through your publishing business. You then license the book to a third party publisher creating passive cash flow while maintaining ownership of the asset.
2. Patents - A property right granted to an inventor “to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, or selling the invention throughout the United States or importing the invention into the United States” for a limited time in exchange for public disclosure of the invention when the patent is granted.(3)
Business Example: You build a business around a board game teaching others how to generate cash flow and build assets and obtain a patent to protect your product.
3. Trademarks - A property right that protects words, names, symbols, sounds, or colors that distinguish goods and services from those manufactured or sold by others and to indicate the source of the goods.(3)
Business Example: You decide you want to franchise your sub shop - Sandwiches R Us - and thus trademark the name nationally in order to expand and retain the name.
4. Trade Dress - Trade dress is a legal term of art that generally refers to characteristics of the visual appearance of a product or its packaging (or even the design of a building) that signify the source of the product to consumers.(4)
Business Example: You develop a series of books all with same visual style, colors, font and appearance and file for trade dress protection.
The point is that with IP protection you create assets, very powerful assets that present opportunities for generating cash flow through licensing and system building. (If you plan on eventually franchising your business you want to seek IP protection for your name, dress and operating procedures)
One of the big net-nets of intellectual property is to seek out competent legal advice to explore what protections you need and how to apply and register. If you contact the Small Business Development Center we can put you in touch with a good IP attorney.
Thanks,
Adam
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1. Laura Hagan, Patents, Trademarks and Copyrights - Assets Your
Company Cannot Afford to Ignore,
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