There is an existing set of IP rights that reward and protect the creative and existing work of any company. The core of these rights primarily protect the rights of the inventors, authors, designers, technicians, engineers, and other professionals that work for the company. The legal principles that underlie these rights are very specific or distinct. The term “intellectual property rights” literally refers to the bundle of legal rights that are established to protect the creative and valuable products of human skills, talent, and knowledge. These rights apply to both tangible and intangible assets. When applied to industries, these assets are labeled or branded with a trademark. Hence, IP rights also include the policies regarding trademark protection.
To manage IP rights and trademark protection policies, companies hire legal counsels, patent agents, engineers, technicians, and other qualified professionals. In the effort to safeguard their concepts, business approaches, technologies, and all other products created by their team of scientists, researchers, and engineers, their business and operating segment accommodates an IP management team. This refers to team of professionals that work together to complete, protect, and legally market the company’s intellectual assets such as the company’s product or service trademark.
Intellectual property trademark protection is essential to the success of an industry. It basically protects everything that the company markets. In this light, safeguarding the company trademark is similar to ensuring the company’s competitiveness. Companies invest a significant amount of money on the people they hire to conceptualize projects, services, and products that would be of great commercial value in the future. These products or services are usually the result of the collective work of the company’s operating segments.
In order to protect the creative work of the product brainchild of the company, an IP legal counsel is employed to do patent grants, utility model registration, industrial design registration, trademark registration, technology transfer licenses, administrative adjudication for IP, and the enforcement of IP rights of the company’s IP assets. IP professionals, particularly IP legal counsels are also responsible for drafting and negotiating license agreements, doing trademark clearance and prosecution, rendering infringement and risk-management advice, and general trademark policing activities. Patent examiners are hired to make sure that the company trademark stays exclusively in the company and will not be used in any way by other companies. They are also the ones responsible for amending patent claims, presenting factual arguments that are not anticipated by prior company inventions. To make these assets marketable, patent agents are hired to complete the portfolio of the company’s IP assets. Other professionals related to intellectual property are generally responsible for managing the marketing, advertising, and copyright support services of the company’s IP assets.
The qualification for Trademark Protection Officers is simple; an undergraduate degree in one of the appropriate fields regarding IP rights and policies. In the United States, licensing exams apply to individuals who want to become patent agents. To qualify for the exam, applicants need to have significant training in the field of engineering, law, business management, and other courses. Post graduate studies and related professional working experiences serve an advantage. Understandably, positions that handle legal issues and policies would require a qualified or licensed lawyer. For patent agents and trademark protection positions responsible for creating, drafting, and settling IP asset portfolios, the position may be open for technical writers.
Safeguarding the intellectual property rights of company brands and trademarks fosters competitiveness in the marketplace. These rights encourage the disclosure of innovative technologies and new products and services that are bound to be improved. This works to the advantage of the company as these rights stakes their claim on anything that has great potential in terms of market values, enabling them to be pioneers in manufacturing unique products. And when it comes to business, unique products means less competition, high demand, and substantial revenue. Through the process of copyright application and management of IP policies, teams of IP professionals, specialists, and experts are hired to monitor the actual process. In this light, all IP related jobs that are responsible for building and legalizing trademark protection serve as the company’s leverage over their competitors.
Without the benefits provided by IP trademark protection, it would be hard to get ahead in the marketplace. Imagine a market that has no variety in terms of products or services. The existence of the policies and rights that promote trademark protection drives the competing companies to continuously reinvent their products and services instead of refining the products initially done by other companies.
- See Top 10 Reasons Most Law Firms Have No Idea How to Hire and Evaluate Patent Attorneys for more information.
