Don

t get confused with types of Intellectual Property Protection

Intellectual Property is an intangible asset that leaders of growing companies a nd entrepreneurs need to clearly understand. Today every business needs one or t he other kind of IP protection and the choice of a correct kind of protection is very important. Some businesses would need multiple types of protection while t he other may need just one type of protection. Deciding what would work best for you is important because a wrong kind of IP protection is as good as no protect ion. You would have heard people say trademark this invention, copyright this id ea, or patent this logo, but as a matter of fact none of these are possible. So let s see what are the possibilities available to you. What are the various types of intellectual property protection available? The selection of correct protection depends on the material you want to protect. For e.g. you may trademark a logo or patent an invention. Following is an expla nation of the types of protection available: Patents: Patents are considered to be the strongest type of protection available . They can be granted for an apparatus or a method provided it is useful, novel, and non-obvious. Patents allow you to exclude others from practicing your inven tion for a period of 20 years. A granted patent can be enforced on anyone who in fringes and the courts help you enforce a patent. Patents are also issued for De signs and have a protection period of 14 years. Companies worldwide try to paten t their inventions and then earn royalty on the protection. Important point to n ote is that patents are jurisdiction specific and can only be enforced in jurisd ictions where you have got the patent registered. Also, patents being the strong est type of protection are most time consuming and expensive. Trademarks: Trademarks are granted word, symbol, or a name that is used to ident ify a service or goods. They only protect the identity and not the underlined in vention or creative work. Registering a trademark is less time consuming and les s expensive than a patent but takes more time and money than a copyright protect ion. Though some protection for trademark is automatically granted as soon as th e mark is used, but it is advisable to register the trademark with the national registering authority. A registered trademark can be enforced and the judicial c ourts help enforce registered marks in case they are infringed. Effectual Services helps its clients protect their intellectual property. We dra ft and file both patent applications. We also provide patent search services suc h as, patentability search, prior art search, freedom-to-operate search, invalid ity search. Further, we help our clients commercialize their existing patents by helping them find likely infringers and prove infringement. For free consultati on or details on our services and price quotes write to us at info@effectualserv ices.com or visit us at www.effectualservices.com