{"id":158,"date":"2014-01-07T19:45:04","date_gmt":"2014-01-07T19:45:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kandhconsulting.com\/blog\/?p=158"},"modified":"2014-01-07T20:02:34","modified_gmt":"2014-01-07T20:02:34","slug":"for-the-love-of-trademarks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kandhconsulting.com\/blog\/productivity-consulting\/for-the-love-of-trademarks\/","title":{"rendered":"For the Love of Trademarks"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Now<\/a>

Now is the Time!<\/p><\/div>\n

When is a good time to evaluate your intellectual property particularly trademarks, copyright, or patents? Prior to starting a business or expanding a thriving business are two opportune times. Many new business owners ignore the benefits of trademarks and copyright mostly because of uncertainty about the process and potential costs associated with the application. This is a grave mistake. Your intellectual property is an asset to the company and adds value when looking to finance, merge, or expand.<\/p>\n

Defining the terms<\/b><\/p>\n

Trademarks, patents, copyright, domain names, and business name registration differ in subtle ways. Domain names are used to identify Internet “real estate” and registered business names are used to legally describe a business entity.<\/p>\n

You can view a great video<\/a> on the basic facts surrounding trademarks presented by the US Patent and Trademark Office. It is about 40 minutes long; so you will probably save time by reading my previous post about Intellectual Property Lawsuits\u00a0<\/a> summarizing the differences.<\/p>\n

Intellectual \u00a0property (IP)<\/b><\/p>\n

\"IP<\/a>

Intellectual Property is a Valuable Asset<\/p><\/div>\n

Many small business owners equate IP to patents, logos, or copyrights on a document. This is just the tip of the iceberg. Intellectual property may include, domain names, registered business names, video, documents, music, photography, white papers, presentations, pod casts, processes, designs, inventions, innovations, etc. The key is the decision of what to protect and the headaches a company is willing to endure to do it. As mentioned in my other post, litigation for patents and copyright infringement is a big business with a big price tag. As a small business owner\/operator, you should conduct regular cost\/benefit analysis<\/a> to maintain intellectual property “value” and to answer these questions:<\/p>\n