Protecting Your Intellectual Property

Protect the value you share

I know your time is valuable. These show notes give you the gist of the episode, what is covered, any links or resources talked about in the show, and also gives you a few ways to listen, watch or digest this episode.

This episode’s topic, in a nutshell…

When I worked as a franchise consultant in my past life – intellectual property was always front of mind when developing a franchise model, because securing your brand and your model was a big part of the value that was built into the business.

Do you have to think about things like trademarks and copyright – even if you are not franchising your business? Yes, my friend, you do. And I’m going to tell you why in this episode because there are few things here for you to be aware of.

To help me to navigate this topic, I’ve invited Stephen Ruse, a talented and experienced business friend, to join me so we can get a good feel for the legal background to the realities that subject matter experts face when tackling this area.

Before you listen, reflect on the following:

• Do you have a visual brand identity (a logo)?
• Do you have a framework or model that you use to work your clients through?
• Have you created a product or service with its own name identity?
• Do you have a podcast show or blog that has its own identity?
• Have you written a book?

Answered yes to one or more of these? These are all points which are affected by what we talk about in this episode.

Highlights

In this episode we walk through:

• What copyright is and how you can protect it. (Hint – you don’t have to ‘register’)
• Where does trademarking come in? (When should you go that extra mile to register a trademark?)
• Business instances where it’s important to really pay attention to protecting your IP.
• The importance of tracking your idea generation and timelining the process of creating your work.
• The concept of ‘passing off’. (Hint: you may already have unregistered rights, even if you haven’t trademarked something).
• Examples of cases that have gone through court – love hearing these.
• Why Stephen chose intellectual property as his specialism.

There are few nuggets in this conversation – you will definitely have at least ONE takeaway to go back and reflect on in your business.

The main reason I want you to listen – is so that you realise that the more you can formalise your way of doing things (your proprietary way) – the closer you are to building evidentiary value in your brand.

Ways to watch, listen or digest this episode:

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A bit more about Stephen Ruse

Stephen Ruse is a senior associate at Howes Percival, a legal firm which has 6 offices in the UK and supports clients around the world.

Stephen’s specialism is in Intellectual Property and IT – he advises his clients on areas like: registering and protecting their trademarks, IT and Software agreements, and in commercialising their IP.

Find out more about him on the howespercival.com website or connect with him on LinkedIn.