Ways to Protect the Intellectual Property of a Business

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Ways to Protect the Intellectual Property of a
Business

• A.A.Tejuoso Co.

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Intellectual Property Rights Lawyer

• Intellectual property is essentially a unique
  creation of a business. It may be an invention,
  artistic or literary work, image, logo, or name.
  Now, to safeguard these intellectual properties
  from unfair competition, business owners should
  know the four ways by which they can protect
  their intellectual properties. Law firm for
  intellectual property lawyers Nigeria works to
  secure your rights.
• Patents
• Patent rights apply to new inventions. By having
  an invention patented, the inventor or patent
  holder gains the exclusive rights to manufacture,
  sell, or use the invention. This allows a
  business to grow significantly because it gives
  the competitive advantage on the marketplace.

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Patents and Trademarks For Business

• Patents are generally divided into three
  categories utility, design, and plant. The
  utility patent is the most common of the three.
  It covers any new machinery, process, article of
  manufacture, or composition of matter. Design
  patent on the other hand covers any new and
  original aesthetic design for a particular
  article of manufacture. Lastly, the plant patent
  covers any new development of asexually produced
  plants or crop.
• Trademarks
• Trademarks are any logo, symbol, design, word, or
  phrase that distinguishes a certain business from
  other competitors. It is usually placed in the
  products or services of a company. And to be
  considered a trademark, it must be unique and not
  used by any other business.

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Copyrights and Trademarks For Business

• In general, trademarks are acquired by constant
  usage and adding of the trademark symbol ().
  However, this does not guarantee full protection
  against copycats. To enforce full rights to a
  certain trademark, it must be registered to
  concerned trademark-governing bodies. After being
  registered, the trademark can have the registered
  symbol () at its end. Intellectual Property
  Rights Lawyer can help for trademark registration
  or infringement issues in Nigeria.
• Copyrights
• A copyright covers all original works of an
  author. It can be in any form like music,
  literary works, choreographic works, computer
  software, and other. With the copyright
  protection, the author gains exclusive rights to
  improve, distribute, display, and perform the
  particular original work.

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Copyrights and Trade Secrets

• To be qualified in copyright protection, a work
  must be secured in a tangible medium. For
  example, literary works must be in paper, or
  music must be in record. The copyright exists
  right after the work gets created. However,
  having it registered makes it eligible for
  attorney fees and statutory damages in case of a
  lawsuit.
• Trade Secrets
• Trade secrets are any processes, formula, or
  other business information that companies do not
  reveal to public because by doing so, it gives
  them advantage over competitors. Such examples
  include food recipe, survey results, and
  algorithms.
• Trade secrets cannot be registered. The best way
  to protect it from other businesses is to
  implement necessary measures to keep other people
  from knowing about it. Examples of ways to do
  this are by restricting access to confidential
  information, and having employees sign a
  nondisclosure agreement.

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Trade Secrets

• Having the company safeguard its secrets is not
  required. However, if a business owner really
  wants to improve his business, it is always best
  to rely on these different intellectual property
  protecting methods.

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• The Royal Chambers, 23/29 Abibu Oki
  Street, P.O. Box 8842, Lagos, Nigeria ,
  Fax [phone] , Shift Number 234 1 264
  3024, Emaillawyer_at_tejulaw.com