Why Protect Your IP
Protecting your Intellectual Property (IP) is not compulsory but it is worth consideration. Just as having a burglar alarm on your home is not required by law, it is a choice many homeowners make for peace of mind. As well as protecting your IP against infringement, protecting your IP can add financial value to your company, particularly if you are selling at a later stage. Protected Intellectual Property rights can be used to facilitate licensing revenue, as security for borrowing and for marketing purposes.
The protection of your Intellectual Property will also give you exclusive rights (in countries where you have secured protection) to your particular asset eg. brand name, invention, design etc. This also ensures that others cannot benefit financially from your hard work or, indeed, damage your reputation by forbidding others from creating an inferior product of service that appears to be associated with your business.
Nowadays, a company’s or individual’s intangible assets are often more valuable than physical assets. Intangible assets can include human capital, know-how, inventions, brands, designs and other products of intellectual creativity.
Intellectual property can be a vital ingredient in securing the commercial success of any company or individual wishing to stay ahead of the field in creating innovative new products, expanding market share and generating customer loyalty. It is very much in the interests of business to make best use of intangible assets by investigating the opportunities offered by the intellectual property system.
Intellectual Property Rights are territorial. Therefore, if you seek Irish protection, you will be granted protection in the Republic of Ireland only. However, further protection can be sought from relevant individual countries or, alternatively, there are European and International routes available also.
International – Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT)