One significant matter that differentiates your business from that of a competitor is intellectual property. Assets such as patents, logo, trade secrets as well as your brand name are what makes up your business. As your business grows, so does the importance of these intangible assets as well as the risk of someone infringing your property. That is what makes the process of registering for IP important for business.
Whether you are still new to Intellectual Property (IP) or you are planning to hire an IP lawyer for your property, this article provides you with everything you need to know about Intellectual Property.
What is Intellectual Property (IP)?
Intellectual property (or IP) refers to the creation or property of mind. This can be any productive ideas you have originally created such as invention, trade mark, design or brand. Most of the time, your intellectual property is what will differentiate you from your competitors. Whether it is your trade secrets, name, logo, or inventions, it is what makes your business unique and stand out from others. However, as your business grows, so too does the risk of plagiarism.
What do IP Lawyers do?
An IP lawyer helps you with handling any disputes relevant to the ownership of your intellectual property, for example, trademark, trade secrets, brand, patent, or copyright. Good IP lawyers will act as your representative in court, draft and review legal documents as well as be an overall legal advisor. They provide everything you need to know about your rights and obligations.
Why is it important to hire an IP lawyer?
If you think protecting intellectual property is your first priority, hire an IT lawyer. Even if you have already registered to protect your IP, there is still a chance that your property may be infringed when launched into the market. Having an IP lawyer to contact and be informed of your IP rights can be really helpful. In addition, if any IP breaches occur, you are well prepared and ready to immediately consult your lawyer to take further legal action to the violator.
Things to consider when hiring an IP lawyer
Intellectual Property Experience
Experience is important especially in this particular field due to the complexity of this area of law. You would want to consider hiring an IP lawyer who has a substantial amount of patent experience since it is useful when it comes to improving the value of your intellectual property. It is also important to ask the average amount of filing patent applications they do yearly and their success rate, to measure the quality of their service. The first consulting process is very important so make sure you ask them everything you need to know before making decisions.
Cost and Billing details
It is important to know which billing method your IP lawyer uses to charge the price of their service. Some law firms might charge their client by fixed fee rate, while some might charge by hourly rate. Since different businesses have different ranges of budget, that is why it is important to discuss with your lawyer on what the price covers and select the one that is most suitable and fits your budget.
Referrals and Reviews
Before deciding on which IP lawyer to work with, it is a good idea to talk to people from your industry that were past clients who have worked with your potential IP lawyer. Referrals from someone we knew makes it reliable, therefore, it is one of the best indicator tools to check on their performance.
However, before you decide to start a long-term work relationship with any lawyer or law firm, referrals alone might not be sufficient enough, checking the reviews online can also be very useful. An experienced IP law firm often has positive reviews online. You may also go through their testimonials to double check for negative reviews from their past clients.
At LegalVision, our IP lawyers can provide you all the information in different types of intellectual property that exist and guide you through the steps in the process. It is not only about how to get your trademark or patent registered, but it is also about protecting your trade secrets as well as any confidential information your business has. Contact us today for more information about our Intellectual property lawyer service.
Moreover we also work closely with our IT law team, because we understand the importance of commercialising technology in the way that suits your business objectives. Find out more about our IT lawyer service here.
