Basic Construction Business Practices
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Protecting Your Intellectual Property
By:Kyle L. Elliott


Practice Group(s):Intellectual Property & Technology

Whether you are a new business owner or a growing one, it is important that in the course of your day you consider your intellectual property rights.

What is intellectual property? Intellectual property may include:

* Copyrights     * Trade Marks    * Trade Secrets     * Patents

Protecting your intellectual property may be more important than protecting the physical assets of your business. Intellectual property can include construction processes or techniques, new formulas or product ideas.

Intellectual property includes any inventions, symbols, names or designs you might be using as part of your business.

It is important that you understand the primary categories of intellectual property so you can protect it. The four most common intellectual property forms covered by the law are discussed below.

Copyrights – Laws about copyrights are generally geared toward protecting artistic or written creative works. This may include blueprints, registered designs, layouts or some other relevant material in your industry. The expression of an idea is protected under a copyright but not the idea itself, thus it is possible that others might make derivative works. If you develop a construction manual for example or how to guide, it would be covered under a copyright. A copyright generally lasts for the life plus seventy years of the person who wrote or developed the protected material. In the case of a work made for hire, the copyright is generally 95 years.

Patents – Patents generally cover useful inventions that have some function, and may or may not be applicable to your business. If you file a patent application for an invention with the government you may obtain what is called a patent, or the legal right to prevent anyone else from marketing or creating the same product or using the same method. Patents are enforceable valid from the day the issue until for 20 years from the date you filed the patent application register.

Trademarks – A trademark may include the name of your construction business, a phrase or even a symbol you associate with your service or product. Trademarks are highly valuable in the construction business, because many consumers equate a brand name with a reputation. You may become associated with a certain level of quality based on your name or symbol. Trademark protection can last for as long as you use the trademark. Trademarks don’t have to be registered; you can simply use the symbol TM or SM as a sign to others that the name work is trademarked. However, there are significant advantages to federally registering trademarks.

Trade Secrets- Trade secrets may be very valuable for a construction firm. A trade secret is any formula, manufacturing process, or data that provides a competitive advantage, is not known to others, may be used competitively and must be kept private by the company owning the secret. As a business owner, if you have a process or technique you want protected you will have to prove it adds value to your company and that the material is not common knowledge. To prove you have a trade secret, you will also need to demonstrate a trade secret program design to preserve the secrecy of the trade secret.

The best way to protect your intellectual property is to know exactly what you need to protect. Decide if you have any copyrights, trademarks, patents, or trade secrets for example you need to protect.

If you have employees, you might consider having them sign invention assignment and confidentiality agreements to protect your company’s rights in the long run.