Intellectual property is a precious and valuable commodity for businesses and business owners alike. Unlike physical assets however, this property is largely intangible: intellectual property, or IP, is the creative capital that generated an entire marketing campaign for a food business, or the slogan that launched a startup into a household name. IP covers ideas and concepts that are of value to a business or an individual.
There are three types of intellectual property protection offered in the United States: patents, trademarks, and copyrights. Patents guard inventions and mechanical aspects of production (what it is and how it’s made). Copyrights and trademarks, meanwhile, protect the intangibles that promote what patents protect—copyrights apply to art and original works like music and manuscripts, while trademarks typically cover designs, logos, slogans, or phrases. As such, trademarks are often the most important form of intellectual property for businesses and startups.
If you’re reading this and have a sinking feeling in your stomach that you’ve created intellectual property that you haven’t yet protected, don’t fear: filing for a trademark is not difficult. It’s done through the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and can usually be handled without having to find legal assistance to aid in the process (although that can be faster and more convenient).
Check out the following infographic from LegalZoom that details trademarking a startup and the reasons why you definitely should consider protecting your intellectual property.
