Intellectual Property (IP) encompasses intangible assets such as patents, copyright, trademarks, industrial design, geographical indications, and trade secrets. Intellectual Property Rights are conferred to the intellectual property owners to restrict others from copying their creations. The creations could be inventions, books, music, songs, brand names or trademarks, product designs, confidential information, etc. Depending upon the type of intellectual property, protection may be conferred automatically for a few, and for others, the intellectual property owner must apply for protection in desired countries. Types of Intellectual Property (IP) Protection Types of ProtectionTypes of Intellectual PropertyAutomatic ProtectionCopyright (advisable to register) Trade Secrets (however steps should be taken to keep the information secret)To Be Applied for ProtectionPatents, Trademarks, Industrial Designs, and Geographical Indications. One Product – Multiple Intellectual Property Rights Depending upon the subject matter involved, a product includes multiple intellectual property rights i.e., a product can have underlying intellectual property right protection under…

Starting a product-based company without protecting the underlying Intellectual Property is as good as building a house in a public place. Time and again, I've had startups and researchers asking me "what now?" once a competitor replicates their product and markets it better. It is a cakewalk for established businesses to replicate your product and use their marketing experience to pose an existential threat to your business. Think about it. A resourceful businessman finds amazing IP-Free product ideas from "Amazon Launchpad", why would he not replicate them? Let alone small businesses, no company/product is copy-proof in this world. Samsung infamously copied Apple's iPhone design [1]. The Oreo cookie that we know today isn't an original recipe either [2]. The list goes on, apparently, some of the rip-offs are better than their originals [3]. While it is practically impossible to stop everyone around the globe from copying your ideas, it can certainly be curtailed to…