Why is brand protection important? When protecting your brand, the threat of intellectual property theft persists for many small business owners and increases with the success of their brand. Determining when and how to protect your intellectual property and remaining vigilant that it stays protected is often necessary for future growth. Being proactive about the protection of your intellectual property can also save you time and money in the long run, whether you intend on growing your business or not.
Brand protection strategies include patents, trademarks, and copyrights. For how to protect a brand name you will need to consider trademarks. The same is true when asking – how to protect my brand and logo. For a comprehensive plan when protecting your brand you should consider patents, trademarks, and copyrights.
What Does a Copyright Protect?
When protecting your brand, there are several different ways to protect your intellectual property, including patents, trademarks, and copyrights. Copyrights protect original works of authorship, in particular, literary or artistic works. By definition, a copyright protects original work as soon as the author of that work “fixes it to a tangible form of expression.” Because of the increased importance of the digital world and branding, many people seek copyright protection for their small businesses and the works that they sell. Copyrights have gained notoriety because of this association; if you do not have proper protection of your works, a competitor can steal your brand, content, or artistic concepts and claim them as their own.
Copyrighting Brand Protection Examples
Some examples of copyrights that can be used when protecting your brand include websites, articles, pictures, advertising material, brand material, video clips, computer programs, and music. Read more in our article “Can you Copyright a Website?” For example, Carson Patents lists the copyright owner credits for all of the images used on our website, check out our photo and image credits. Some things that are not necessarily copyrightable can still be protected with trademarks or patents. Be sure to look into trademarking too when protecting your brand.
How Do I Protect My Brand with Copyrights?
To make sure that you have the exclusive rights to your original artistic or literary works, when protecting your brand, a copyright may be necessary. It might be easier than you think. Any original work of authorship is automatically under protection due to U.S. copyright law. This means that things associated with your brand or business – like a design – will automatically have a copyright assigned to it as long as it is expressed in a physical form.
Copyrights Protect Original Works
When protecting your brand, it is important to note that a copyright does not protect facts, ideas, systems, or methods of operation – it only protects the unique way that these things are expressed in your work. Copyright law protects the “expression” of an idea but not the “idea” itself. The distinction between the idea and the expression is fundamental in the Copyright law. This is an important distinction to make when thinking about what aspects of your brand you would like to, and can, protect.
Register your Work
Although your original works of authorship are automatically protected, you can register your copyright so that you can sue anyone who tries to exploit your work for their own purposes. Furthermore, registering a copyright with the federal government puts you in charge of its property usage, publishing, distribution, and presentation to an audience. This additional protection also includes benefits such as having a public record of the claim, the ability to file a copyright lawsuit in federal court, and receiving return of legal fees for infringement claims if you win a suit.
Protecting your Brand – Registering a Copyright
If you would like to seek out enhanced protection for your brand by registering a copyright, it is possible to register a copyright on your own. When protecting your brand, you can register your work and get your own copyright through a simple and straightforward process. The filing fee is $35 to $55 should you choose to do this yourself through the U.S. Copyright Office. See our 3 Steps to Copyright page for more information on how to complete this process. Additionally, if you would like to schedule a free consultation for your copyright or if you would like to seek professional help for your copyright registration, we can help you along every step of the way.
