What IP Assets Should I Protect?

 

Often times as creators we create things and do not protect them and they get stolen.

How do I know what is a valuable asset that needs to be protected?

There is a whole plethora of things to consider but let’s go through a few things.

1. The look and feel of your business

For example, think about Target and McDonalds. When you walk into a Target, there is a signature look and signature feel. When you go into a McDonalds, there is a signature look and signature feel. This is not limited to physical locations. When someone participates in your service or product, there is a signature look and signature feel. There is also a signature brand.

2. A slogan

If you have a slogan that you use to be a source identifier for your business, that is protectable.

3. Customer list

This is something else that people do not normally consider, but this can be something of value to you.

3. Presentation

If you have a presentation and you have given your services or knowledge about what you can do and a presentation, you can protect your presentation with a copyright so no one can use it.

The whole purpose of using these tools is that you get the right of exclusivity. The right of exclusivity means that nobody else can use your stuff. That is where the value is.

I am participating in an ongoing learning seminar and one of the things we learned is the value of businesses as it relates to physical assets has decreased tremendously. More assets are intangible assets- trademarks, copyrights, patents, trade secrets. All of these things are where your money resides. It is not necessarily with the physical assets that your business may obtain. You want to make sure that you follow this mindset to protect your business: I am going to create it, I am going to protect it, and I am going to share it. If you protect it, you can police it better and will have the tools to do so.

Watch the full video on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9du2Qc9vL-w&t=11s