How can you protect your intellectual property?

It is very important to your company that you protect your intellectual property (IP). The first way to do this is to get the appropriate copyrights and register the trademarks that you have. When you register these marks with the government, it helps you prove ownership and take action if someone infringes on your rights.

Intellectual property goes far beyond things like a logo or even the design of your products. What can you do to protect other types of information that might get out?

Using non-compete agreements

One potential option is to use a non-compete agreement. For instance, maybe you know that your employees are going to have access to lists of clients and customers. You don’t want an employee to quit their job and go to the competition with this list. A non-compete agreement can prohibit them from doing so for a certain time.

Using nondisclosure agreements

Additionally, you can have new employees sign contracts stating that they can’t take a client list or other sensitive information with them. One way to do this is with a non-disclosure agreement. This essentially means that the employee can’t talk about anything that is included in that agreement with anyone outside the company.

In the example above, you may be fine with an employee leaving to work somewhere else. You don’t want to control their entire career. You simply want to make sure that they can’t discuss your sensitive industry secrets after they leave.

These are just a few options, but you can see how important it is to protect your intellectual property. Be sure you know what steps to take to do that. Having experienced legal guidance can help.