Intellectual property
Intellectual property refers to intangible property such as trademarks and copyrights.
Trademarks are words, logos, etc., people recognize and identify your business. The idea behind a trademark is that you don't want anyone doing business with your brand, as this could confuse people and draw customers away from your company.
A trademark is country-specific, but some trademarks apply to many countries, such as the EU trademark. Usually, you need to register a trademark, which is advisable for various reasons, but it's unnecessary in some countries, like the US.
Lawyers charge a bit of money and trademarks cost little, so get one for your business!
Copyrights are a more straightforward concept than trademarks. You need a copyright if you make something creative, like a novel or a movie. Technically, copyright is granted when you publish creative content on a medium such as a paper or a website, but often these rights aren't honored and it isn't easy to prove in court that you're the owner.
Fortunately, there are ways to fight this. Copyright registration is cheap! For example, the United States Intellectual Property Office (USIPO) charges about 90 euros for a collection of 10 unpublished literary works, so there's no reason not to register!
That's it for today, my friends! See you in the next post!
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