Intellectual property can be incredibly valuable to your business. However, if it’s inadequately protected, then it can be misappropriated in a way that harms your business. Therefore, if you have trademarks, copyrights, or patents, then you need to know how to effectively monitor your intellectual property and how to enforce your rights.
Tips for monitoring business intellectual property
In a lot of instances, businesses simply stumble across infringing acts. That’s fortunate, but do you really want to rely on luck when it comes to protecting the integrity of your brand and your company’s bottom line? Probably not. That’s why you might want to consider implementing the following into your business practices:
- Seeking out trademark usage online and monitoring your competitors to see if they’re using your marks in an infringing way.
- Utilizing Google alerts so that you’re notified when your marks are used online, that way you can check to see if your intellectual property is being misappropriated for pirated goods or in another way that’s harmful to your brand or your business.
- Placing copyright and trademark notices anywhere that’s justified.
- Using confidentiality agreements, non-disclosure agreements, and non-compete agreements to protect against disclosure of protected information.
- Creating a new division in your business dedicated to monitoring the use of your intellectual property.
- Quickly sending cease and desist letters and utilizing other forms of legal action to hastily bring infringing use to a stop.
Don’t let the value of your intellectual property be watered down
Strong intellectual property can give you a leg up on the competition and set you apart in the marketplace. But if that intellectual property is misused, then you lose out on a lot of value. Don’t let that happen to you.If you’re worried about your intellectual property and how to protect it, then consider getting professional advice.