The term ‘intellectual property’ (IP) applies to many of the most valuable assets that businesses own. This includes brand elements like a logo, company and product names, and slogans or taglines; certain inventions and improvements to existing products may also qualify as IP, as do any media or creative works a business develops.

While many types of intellectual property are well-understood by businesses - for example, most organisations recognise the need to protect their most valuable brand assets with trade marks, or secure patents for innovative products - there are some types of IP protection that businesses fail to take advantage of in many cases.

In particular, there are several applications of copyright protection that businesses commonly miss, simply due to a misunderstanding of how the law applies. Copyright is generally understood to protect creative works that, in the most common instances, include literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works, films, recordings and broadcasts. For this reason, companies often perceive that copyright does not apply to them, because they do not create media products in the course of their operations.

However, while all of these examples are accurate, they are only a portion of the types of assets that copyright protects. When businesses fail to recognise the assets that they can protect, they may be vulnerable to competitors infringing on their rights and copying these assets for themselves. While there is action you can take to defend your IP rights when they have been infringed, the damage may have been done. As such, it is vital to understand how IP rights apply to your company’s assets, and to work proactively to defend them against imitation and infringement.

Here, the intellectual property experts at JMW Solicitors offer a guide to the types of IP that many businesses fail to recognise and protect, and explain how your organisation can prevent infringement, or fight back when its IP rights are breached.

Databases

A database can be one of an organisation’s most valuable assets, whether it contains product details, a list of customers or other proprietary information. While in most cases, businesses are generally aware that they own the contents of their databases and that unauthorised access is unlawful, they may not understand how IP rights apply and can be used to keep this information secure - nor that copyright applies to databases in much the same way as it applies to creative works.

There are two types of intellectual property rights that protect databases; along with copyright, businesses will also enjoy sui generis database rights. Both of these protections apply automatically - because they do not need to register their rights, business executives may be unaware that these rights apply.

Copyright protects the arrangement or structure of the material in the database, although it does not apply to the data itself. This means that the construction of a database must be creative or original in some way to qualify for protection; as such, it may be ambiguous as to whether or not it applies in your case, and if you are concerned about potential infringement of a database, you should speak to an expert IP solicitor for advice.

Sui generis rights apply to the contents of the database, and there does not need to be any element of creativity or originality to this data in order for you to qualify for sui generis database protection as the owner of the database. However, you must be able to demonstrate that you put significant time or effort into collecting, verifying or presenting the contents of the database in order to qualify for ownership rights.

Catalogues and Product Descriptions

If you sell your products online or through a catalogue and have written descriptions of these items, you may be unaware that these qualify for copyright protection.

Third parties who sell your products may want to use or adapt your product descriptions to ensure that customers can identify the product correctly and understand its relationship to your brand. In most cases, businesses are happy to allow this, or to create product descriptions for the express purpose of allowing third-party sellers to use them.

However, challenges can arise if competitors whose products are similar to yours decide to reproduce or adapt your descriptions for their own products. Even with some editing, reuse of these product descriptions can constitute copyright infringement, and can also affect customers’ ability to search for your products online. If you are concerned that your content has been copied or adapted in this way, it is important to speak to a solicitor at the earliest opportunity.

It is also vital to avoid infringement yourself. If your business sells another company’s products, be careful to ensure that you do not reproduce content where you do not have permission to do so. Check with the producer of any products you sell before using their advertising copy on your website or in catalogues, to ensure that you have permission. Otherwise, you could face legal action, which can be expensive and time-consuming, and is often easily avoided.

This does not only apply to product descriptions. Any content you write (or commission someone else to write) and publish on your company’s website is subject to copyright protection, and you may be able to take legal action against any other parties that infringe on this right.