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How do trademarks and copyrights add value to your business?

| Apr 29, 2021 | Corporate Law

In this era, business branding is key to creating a name and reputation for your company. A logo or slogan can be just as valuable (if not even more so) than the products or services that your company offers. 

You’d do yourself a disservice if you don’t take the necessary measures to protect your company’s name and image. Someone could step in, steal that information and put it out there as their own, leaving you little to show for all your hard work. 

Protecting your work by securing copyrights or trademark rights over your intellectual property are options you should consider. Those things help keep anybody else from piggybacking on your efforts and stealing your business.

When might you want to consider a trademark?

There are many reasons why you might want to secure a trademark. You may wish to do so to protect your company’s name, or the words, sounds, color combinations or symbols that customers readily associate with your company’s products and services.

Trademarks can be helpful in that they allow you to protect your interests on a larger scale, such as online and across wider geographic areas. (Trademarks are only applicable within the boundaries of the country in which you register them, though.) Your trademark remains valid indefinitely once you register it so long as you fiercely defend it against any violators. 

When should you get a copyright?

Copyrights can protect your original works, such as software programs, website codes, manuscripts, photographs or artwork, from piraters reproducing and marketing them as their own. 

The length of time that a copyright remains in effect varies depending on who registers it. Copyrights generally remain in effect up to 70 years after an author’s passing. Copyrights on work made for hire (like many companies own) remain in effect for 95 years from the first publication date or 120 years past their creation, whichever expires first. 

Do you need to protect your Colorado company’s intellectual property rights?

Many companies have intellectual property that they should protect from potential infringers, yet they fail to do so because they don’t have a firm grasp of its value. An intellectual property attorney can perform an audit of your assets to determine which ones you might want to protect with a trademark or copyright.