Intellectual Property is arguably the fastest growing property form in society now. Accordingly every prudent business owner from the sole proprietor to the multi-national corporation is forced to pay attention to the trends in Intellectual Property.
In my mind the simplest definition of Intellectual Property is a property type that refers to creations of the mind. In other words where real property for instance is brick and mortar property intellectual property is mind property. Therefore if I create it by imagination the law says I can protect it under Intellectual Property laws.
As with most areas of law it is an evolving animal and perhaps one can say it is growing at a faster pace than other areas of law ever have but then that might be a result of the society in which we find ourselves today. We are in the era of inventions (or mind creations) becoming obsolete almost before they hit shop floors. One would therefore expect that in this rapidly growing field the law would have to evolve; and evolve fast!
That said, whereas there is a myriad of landmines in Intellectual Property that businesses would have to navigate as they grow they need to be on the offensive and defensive from day one when it comes to basic Intellectual Property.
It is more or less established that the most basic form of Intellectual Property would be a name or brand.There is a need therefore to defend/protect their name/brand right from inception so it becomes crucial to seek relevant advice the minute they decide to transact business under a certain name whether incorporated or not. They need to be pro-active in their thinking so that they address all areas of possible infringement at the start-up stage to avoid pitfalls and possible litigation later.
Contemporaneously businesses need to be on the offensive with respect to other’s basic Intellectual Property. This is largely achieved at inception as well by engaging a professional that can provide proper advice and assistance in searching for possible competing/conflicting scenarios before embarking on a name for a business.
It is unfortunate that as with most areas of business law the small businesses tend to be the most vulnerable when it comes to exposure to infringement of name rights in Intellectual Property.
At the very least the sole practitioner or small business owner should ensure that legal opinion is sought at the time of putting its business arrangement in place whether it is a business name registration or incorporation and in so doing should impress its need for Intellectual Property protection on the legal professional at the time of consultation.