On Thursday 29th October 2020, we were joined by Hayley Tarr for our monthly lunch and learn session. Hayley Tarr is the owner, founder, and director of Tarr Law – a boutique intellectual property law firm that specialises in IP issues from registered IP rights (industrial property such as patterns or designs) to unregistered intellectual property right (copyrights).
As a specialist in IP law and protection, Hayley shared with members numerous tips on what they need to do legally to protect their IP, trademarks and copyrights for their business.
Here are the 5 top tips on how to protect your business’ IP:
- When creating any type of material that needs a copyright put onto it, submit copies of the copyright material to Wipo Proof where they will stamp it using blockchain technologies which provides you and others with evidence that this particular copyright work was created by you on this particular date. This ensures that if someone tries to use your copyright material in the latter future, you will have proof that you had created it first.
- All transfers of assets between entities must always be done in writing for it to be a legally viable transfer. This is especially important for any transfer of copyright materials between entities.
- Have an exit strategy mapped out for your business and have it written out in your Shareholder’s Agreement. A formal written agreement will clarify the ownership of all IP of the company director (IP which was generated during directorship and pre-existing IP ‘loaned’ to the company in a shared drop box folder.)
- When using external providers, wherever possible, use your own agreements. Make sure that when you are signing the agreement, that it covers the transfer of all IP, the moral rights clause, IP warranties/indemnities and limitations of liability.
- Use it or lose it! Once you have your registration you need to have written license agreements and exercise actual financial and quality control. You will need to be using either the TM™ or R® symbols for your work and also avoid removal for non-use, therefore, use it for all goods/services for which it is registered.
Protecting your business IP, trademarks and copyright material is essential and documenting all transfers in writing could save your business if something were to go pear shaped. If you would like to find more and to gain an in-depth explanation of Hayley’s IP protection tips, watch the video embedded below.
If you would like to speak with Hayley personally to gain some guidance on how you can make a start to protecting your IP and copyrights, you can connect with Hayley Tarr via her linked in account.
