* “Intellectual property” is not limited to patents or high technology

So, what is intellectual property?  Silicon Valley is known far and wide as the cradle of high technology and the home of hundreds of high profile, high-tech companies.   It also is the home of thousands of more traditional businesses of all sizes.   We counsel businesses in both sectors, and in the traditional business sector we have noticed an interesting phenomenon.  Many business owners believe the phrase "intellectual property" means patents and/or high technology.  They assume that intellectual property is for the Intels, Suns, and Ciscos of this world.
That assumption is understandable -- high-tech companies have a high profile here in the San Francisco Bay Area -- but it is incorrect and can be dangerous.  The protection of intellectual property is really the protection of ideas, and that concept is much broader than patents or high-tech.  If your business really has no ideas of its own, it probably doesn't possess any intellectual property.  All viable businesses, however, do have ideas that are critical to their success and should regard those ideas as intellectual property worthy of protection.  Here are just a few examples of intellectual property that don't involve patents or high tech inventions:

• Have you developed a customer list that you need to protect from competitors?  Have you developed product formulas that could be copied and used to manufacture competing products at a lower cost if they fell into the hands of competitors?  If so, you have valuable and protectable trade secrets that can be lost if you are not fully advised on how to protect them.  Those trade secrets are your intellectual property.
  
  
• Does your company use words, symbols, phrases or designs that the public associates with your goods or services?  Do you use them on your building or in your advertising?  What would happen to your business if one day you found that you could no longer use the very name or symbol by which you had become known to the public?  A trademark is intellectual property, and trademark protection can be a vital part of business planning.  A company can have more than one registered trademark, and some companies have many.
  
• Has your company prepared brochures, photographs, graphics, or other original materials that could simply be copied and used by a competitor for its own benefit without having to go through the same effort or expense?  If so, you have intellectual property and copyright protection should be part of your business plan.

Why should I protect my IP, and can I afford to?  Obviously, every company is different and these are only a few examples of intellectual property.  People often assume that protecting their IP has to be prohibitively expensive.  Full blown litigation of any sort can be very expensive, and that's why it is important to take steps to try to minimize the chances of litigation.  Protecting trade secrets, registering trademarks, and copyrighting materials are ways to do that.  They are also ways to minimize business risks.  The cost of taking these steps is more modest than clients often anticipate, and it certainly is more modest than the potential cost of not doing so.
The first step, though, is to understand that most businesses, large or small, high-tech, low-tech or service oriented, have intellectual property that may require protection.  In the press of business it's easy to neglect or underestimate the need, but it can be dangerous to do that.
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To consult with a lawyer about your company’s intellectual property, or any other business transaction or dispute, please contact a member of our Intellectual Property Group:
 
Karl D. Chandler

James R. Hawley

Stephanie O. Sparks

Raji Nagarkar

Julian Zegelman

Marie Crepeau-Ricci