New Year's Resolutions 2008

Last year at this time, I wrote a post suggesting that you make certain resolutions for protecting your trademark in 2007, here's the same post, but for 2008:


If you own a business, you most likely took a moment over the past couple of days to think about last year's successes and failures. You also most likely took a moment to think about how your business will be more succesful in 2008. Did you stop and think about your Intellectual Property ("IP")? Nearly all businesses have IP whether it is in the form of trademarks used in connection with goods and/or services, copyright, or patents. Most businesses also consider much of the information they maintain as a trade secret, but fail to take the appropriate measures to protect such information from competitors or ex-employees.

Make a resolution this year to do the following:
- Check to see if your trademark(s) have been registered with either your state's Department of Corporations or the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
- Make a list of information you consider to be a "trade secret" such as customer lists, product formulas, and the like. Evaluate whether your business is in fact treating such information as a "trade secret." For instance, do only key employees have access to this information? Did your business actually compile this information for a business advantage? Would the public dissemination of this information cause injury (financial or otherwise) to your business?
- Insist that key employees sign a non-disclosure agreement which will aid in protecting unauthorized dissemination of your "trade secrets."
- Insist that key employees also sign a non-compete agreeement which will insure that upon leaving your business that the ex-employee can not work for a competitor within a reasonable geographic radius and for approximately two (2) years.
- Inform/remind any employee that creates content for your business (photos, brochures, software, etc...) that such works are works made for hire and as such immediately become the property of your business. Since the work(s) was created within the time and scope of employment, the employee should have no misunderstanding as to the true owner of the copyright in such work(s).
- Upon considering the launch of a new product or service, call an attorney who specializes in intellectual property law. There may be issues relating to trademarks, patents, and/or copyrights.

These New Year's resolutions, while not exhaustive, should get you thinking about how to leverage what could be your most valuable assets.