Myth Number Two: I do not need to register a mark, my company or business name is unique

Company or business names and registered marks are very different concepts. Normally commercial registers verify and make sure that a company name is unique on the relevant national or regional territory. These names are used to identify the legal entity (company) itself and not the goods and services it markets. Trademarks, on the contrary, are used to indicate the commercial origin of goods and services and a company may own several marks for its different product lines. Consumers are usually confronted with marks, they link the qualities of the goods and services to the marks (and therefore marks are the device which accumulates reputation for the respective product). Therefore, it is crucial to protect the company’s marks by registration in the territories where it markets its goods and services.

Myth Number Three: I have a business model and I want to register it so that nobody can use it

Often businesses develop an idea or a business model, e.g. a new service offered via online platform, and aim to gain exclusivity over such idea or business model. This is an extremely hard task which can hardly be achieved through registration of IP. Ideas on their own are not patentable. Also, under the European Patent Convention, schemes, rules and methods for doing business are not regarded as inventions and are not patentable. In these scenarios it is important to refer to other possibles ways of protection such as trade secrets, combined with other IP rights that could enhance the position and reputation of the business over time (trademarks, designs, etc.).

Myth Number Four: I can protect my patent, trademark or design worldwide

There is no such thing as a worldwide trademark, design or patent. These are all registered IP rights meaning that they are protected in the territory of the country (or regional organisation such as the EU) where the IP rights holder has applied to protect its rights and has received registration. This is why it is critical for businesses to identify the markets where they have present or potential commercial interests so that a sound IP protection strategy can be put in place accordingly.

Myth Number Five: You have to register your copyright to protect it

Although this common misunderstanding tends to disappear, we still receive request for registering works which are subject to copyright in order to protect them. It is important to know that copyright arises automatically from the moment of creation of the work and its fixation into a certain tangible form. The questions of proving copyright, the moment of creation and authorship are another issue. Despite that copyright protection is automatic, steps may be taken to collect enough evidence in advance on the work(s) created, the time of creation and the authorship. Such steps shall be consulted with an IP professional depending on the concrete work at hand and the specific circumstances.