 Welcome to The Journey. Today, we'll be talking about tips for protecting your business's intellectual property. All businesses have intellectual property or IP. Whether they know it or not. Exactly. You could have created something, you have your brand or a website, but whatever you do have, you want to make sure that you protect it because it's yours. So definitely make sure you take the necessary steps. All right. So let's start talking about those intangible assets. Now these are your ideas, know-how, your processes. They're the foundation of your business and what sets you apart from your competitors. So here are some examples of different types of IPs that every business has but rarely considers. Starting with trademarks. So if you have a specific business name, special name for your products or logo, those are all intangible assets that can be trademarked. And these trademarks are things that are specific to your business, special words or images that you want to make sure that you protect and that are different from everyone else. And what I like about trademarks is they represent your brand, they represent your reputation, what it is, what it's going to be. Just make sure that it's unique to you and your customers, your target audience. Kind of like the coffee and kickflips. Exactly like the coffee and kickflips. And that's why it's important that you're not infringing on anyone else's IP. So you want to make sure that this is unique to you again with coffee and kickflips. When we were thinking of the name, it was difficult at first because just the shared amount of names that are out there, there's a lot of coffee out there, a lot of coffee, a lot of skate brands. So to come up with something unique, yeah, it took some time, took some research, but we're saying that's critical for you to do. Make sure that you aren't doing something too similar to another business or logo or brand that's already out there. And that's why it's so important to really protect your intellectual property because it's not always intentional, but sometimes some other people could actually do what you've already done and you don't want that to happen because that's your baby. So protect your intellectual property. All right, so for our next one, copyright. Any original piece of work that's been produced in a tangible medium is considered a copyright. Think of music, movies. And it doesn't stop there. You can have original website copy, marketing materials and other creative works. The big point here is it has to be an original work that either you've done or you've paid someone else to do. You can't take someone else's work and present it as your own. Now this might seem all pretty straightforward, right? No. It's a large world on the internet. It's easy to get mixed up on where was this original photo from? We see it all the time on social media. And businesses ask me all the time, oh, Emma, so a customer was in my restaurant. They took a picture while they were there. Can I use that for our restaurant's Instagram? I always say ask. Always ask the original photographer of that photo before then sharing it over to your Instagram for your restaurant. All right, so next on our list are patents. Now patents have been a little hard to understand because most times patents have been synonymous with an idea. And I remember when I had a former job in research, there was a gentleman who worked for a company and he came up with an awesome idea. However, the patent on that idea belonged to the company and not him. So it's very important to know all the limitations of patents. So in reality, a patent allows you to exclude anyone else from creating or selling your invention. All right, so just because you've gotten your patent doesn't mean that you just kick your feet up and begin to just have money rolling in. You actually have to do the work to get your product created. So if you think, yeah, I have this great idea, then go ahead, get a patent attorney, sort what you do it right, work with an expert. And it's better than trying to just do it on your own. I'll go to Wikipedia and figure it out. That may not work. So next up I want to talk about trade secrets. One of my favorite things to talk about. And it's because this is when you have something about your business or your company that is only known to you, the business. And it reminds me of when I worked at Dagwood's Deli in Bloomington, Indiana. Don't worry, John, I'm not going to give away your secret. But when after we were hired, we actually had to sign a statement that said we would not tell the secret sauce recipe. There was this, yeah, I can't tell you, but there was this great sauce that we put on all of our sandwiches that everyone was just jonesing for. And I can't even remember the recipe, but at the time it was a big deal. I had to keep it a secret for the owner. All right. So trade secrets are processes, formulas or methods that you use to create your product. So like in Emma's case, you want to make sure that you have these agreements in place with those who know your information to keep it confidential under threat of legal action. All right. Let's jump into some tips. I recommend plan ahead because you might not be able to do everything at once or protect everything at once and things pop up. Maybe you need more money than you thought. So get a calendar out, plan ahead, get time on your side. And next you want to have an employee agreement. It's an important piece to the IP puzzle. Now this is different than a nondisclosure. And that's right. A nondisclosure is going to protect your IP from any public disclosure. So for example, let's say some people were coming through Dagwood's deli while we're making the secret sauce, they can't then leave the business that day and go replicate it or share that recipe. So the employee agreement keeps your employees from leaking your IP and then a nondisclosure protects you from having people outside your business leaking your IP. Oh, also want to talk about agreements with consultants or vendors. Keep in mind you're paying them for a service, but you still have an IP. This is your property. It's your idea. They can't go and take it. All right. So next you want to make sure that you file the patent application because no one wants to disclose that they have this great idea, that intellectual property before you know it's yours and you own it. So if your product or service has a specific name, make sure you protect that. So for example, remember the Snuggies? The Snuggie? It's so long. You have one? Of course. Like I have two. So that if you have something unique like that, the Snuggie, you can protect it. You'll notice as seen on or TN afterwards. All right. So now let's talk about the internet. If you find something online, it doesn't necessarily mean that it's okay to use. If you're going to use some kind of creative piece of work and commercial purposes, make sure that you reach out to the one that owns the copyright and make sure you have their express consent to use it. For instance, at my job at GoDaddy, most times content creators, if they're using some kind of stock photo, they want to make sure that it's either not copyright protected. So they're going to use it with no problem. Or if it is copyright protected, they want to make sure that they have permission to use that piece of content. Also keep an eye on your competitors. They're using a trademark that's similar to yours or your patented method. What you should do is definitely enforce your IP rights. On that same note, when Survivor first came out, there was actually another show. I'm a celebrity and get me out of here. It was very similar to the Survivor plot. So the makers of Survivor had to actually enforce their IP rights to see if they could get that show off the air, but it didn't quite work. But this is what we were talking about, enforcing those IP rights. And similar to what you probably do at your own store, keep track of all the tangible items, like your mugs, hats. Snuggies. Snuggies, if you have them there. Do the same thing with your IPs. Maybe have a list on your computer or hard copy. Okay, so that's a wrap. You just learned some tips for protecting your business's intellectual property. Make sure that you like and comment on this video. Also be sure to subscribe and ring that bell so you're the first to know when an episode comes out. This is The Journey.