As any entrepreneur is well aware, the early stages of a new business venture are an incredibly busy time. Entrepreneurs must focus on building the core team, structuring the company, attracting investors, developing the product/service, and developing key partnerships, sales channels and marketing plans. These tasks are typically all-consuming for the founders, taxing both their financial and time resources.

During this time, it may be challenging to allocate attention to intellectual property (IP) issues.  However, this early stage is also a critical time to ensure that a business takes steps to protect its core IP and avoids the risk of third-party IP issues. It is increasingly crucial to gain a solid understanding of IP and developing a strategy that aligns with the business to build a new venture on a solid foundation.

This article includes an overview of the different types of intellectual property and provides advice to startup companies on how to secure their own intellectual property as well as protect against risks from others.

The four basic types of intellectual property that startups should understand are:

  • Patents
  • Trade Secrets
  • Trademarks
  • Copyrights

In this final post in the series, we cover Copyrights.

Copyrights

Copyright is a form of intellectual property that protects the expression of ideas. Books, music, art, photographs, architecture and even computer software can be protected by copyright.

However, while copyrights protect the expression of ideas, they do not protect ideas or concepts themselves. For example, a copyright can protect a particular photograph of a bird, but others may still create their own photographs of the same type of bird.

Another requirement for copyright eligibility is that the work must be an original work of authorship. Facts, titles, phrases, and forms per se cannot be copyrighted.

Exclusive rights to copyright owners

Like trademarks, copyright registration is optional. As soon as a work is written or recorded or otherwise made tangible, it is considered to be copyrighted. US law provides various exclusive rights to copyright owners, including the rights to reproduce the work, prepare derivative works and distribute copies, irrespective of registration.

However, registration provides significant procedural benefits. Critically, registration is necessary in order to file a lawsuit for copyright infringement. It is also necessary to receive certain remedies, such as statutory damages and attorney fees. Registration also provides a presumption of originality and ownership, and it allows US Customs to stop the importation of infringing or counterfeit works.

Businesses should include the © symbol or the word Copyright on all distributed materials. They should also include the year of first publication, the name of the owner, and the language “All rights reserved.”

Businesses should consider registering any important materials so that the option of filing lawsuits is available to address infringement. Registration can be filed online with the US Copyright Office for a nominal fee.

Startups should also be careful to avoid using third-party photos, music, or writings on their website, marketing materials or products. Such use could lead to a potentially costly infringement dispute with the copyright holder.

Finally, because the author is the copyright owner by default, startups should take steps to ensure that they receive the rights to any copyrightable work created by employees or third-party contractors. The Copyright Act lists specific requirements for works for hire, and employment and third-party contractor agreements should include specific language to address ownership of any copyrightable works.

Conclusion

While intellectual property issues may get brushed aside during the early stages of a business at times, it is important to develop a diligent and intelligent IP strategy early on.

Startups should evaluate the types of intellectual property that can impact their business and strategically consider pursuing patent, trademark and copyright protection as appropriate.

Defensively, startups should assess the intellectual property landscape of their business, including clearance efforts to ensure that the company will not infringe on the intellectual property of others as it develops its products and services.