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Preparing for an Audit
In order to protect and to maximise the value of intellectual
property it is vital to be aware of the nature of the property
concerned. It is worth keeping an inventory of the property
that your organisation owns, together with the information
and documents listed in the section below on "Protecting
Your Property".
Trade Marks
Passing Off
Copyright
Database Right
Design Rights
Confidential Information
TRADE MARKS
Look for any signs that you use to promote your business.
Do not forget things like musical jingles and smells (provided
that they can be represented graphically).
These are most likely to include:
Names;
Logos, such as the panda logo registered by the World-Wide
Fund for Nature;
Other symbols - have a look at your notepaper, promotional
material and packaging.
PASSING OFF
In addition to the ground covered by trade marks, an "image"
(sometimes referred to as "get-up") is protectable
through the law of passing off. Consider the distinctive features
of your organisation's image that do not amount to signs as
such. For example, does the promotional material have distinctive
borders?
COPYRIGHT
Copyright will generally be found in material that has been
reduced to some permanent form, with the exception of non-artistic
three dimensional objects.
Your list may well include the following:
Logos;
Marketing and advertising material;
Website;
Software.
DATABASE RIGHT
Collections of data, including marketing and client lists
may attract database right.
DESIGN RIGHTS
Think of all your recent design work, including functional
objects, computer graphics, clothing, and designs used in
branding such as shape marks.
CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION
It is likely that the following will all be confidential
and should therefore be protected as confidential information:
marketing and customer lists;
pricing proposals;
manufacturing procedures;
unpublished research and survey results. These results need
not necessarily be scientific.
It is likely that you will have other confidential information,
but this is a good place to start.
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