By Otori Emmanuel

In a fast-paced business world, intellectual property is the foundation of every business. It forms an integral part of a business, so the lack of understanding of its significance may lead to a catastrophe.

What is intellectual property?

Intellectual property is the original creative tool developed by a business. They are mostly intangible assets such as literary works, brand names, logos or designs, and invented products and services.

Every original brand of products and services brought into the limelight by a business owner into a marketplace falls under the intellectual property of the business.

Intellectual property helps to set apart a business from its competitors. Therefore, every business needs to protect these intangible assets in order not to always encounter legal problems.

What is Intellectual Property Rights?

Intellectual property rights refer to the legally approved rights that protect the intangible assets of the business.

Intellectual property rights are the catalyst tool for innovation sustainability, strategic growth, revenue influx, and partnerships.

Types of Intellectual property rights of a business

       A. Trademark Registration: This is the most popular type of intellectual property rights. It is the registration that helps to distinguish a brand of products and services from other similar brands in the business environment.

Trademark helps the brand of a business to gain a brand identity in the marketplace. One can easily identify a fake product from the original product because of the distinctive registered mark.

       B. Patent Registration: Patent registration is the protection of business inventions. This invention must be unique and exclusive to the originator otherwise, there will be no registration.

       C. Copyrights: This is the protection of the original literary works of a business. These literary works could be originally developed adverts, lyrics and songs or movies, journals and articles on social media platforms that solely belong to the business.

The Importance of Leveraging Intellectual Property for Business Growth 

       A. Brand Identity: Building a unique brand of products and services that can serve the needs of customers or a percentage of customers, helps it to stand out from other general products and services in a saturated market. The business will have to carve out a brand name or design that can be used to differentiate the brand from other products.

Customers would always want to deal with a trusted brand rather than imitations if they are able to spot the difference.

       B. Trust: Protection of intangible assets will always lead to trust of the business by customers. It shows the product or services are authentic.

       C. It will lead to the removal of product imitations from the marketplace:

We all know that most products or services always have adulterated product packages waiting in line to be sold to buyers. These fake products are sold way cheaper than the original products and without the protection of the trademarks that cover these products, the business may run into financial losses.

       D. Franchising: Intellectual property rights can allow the sale of the same model of business to another person. This type of business operation is called a Franchise. A franchiser simply sells his or her business to a franchisee who in turn must follow every detail of the existing business inclusive of the intangible assets the business owns in exchange for a fee.

       E. It helps to keep the business out of court cases: When businesses fail to protect their intangible assets on time, they may not get the opportunity to use the same name or logo when a competitor in a similar line of business decides to use the same trade name as its trademark. So, it’s always important for a business to seek the services of an intellectual property expert for proper advice.

Conclusion

Intellectual property is part and parcel of a business. Trade secrets must be fully protected in order not to get exposed to competitors. The protection of intangible assets of a business will always improve the brand reputation and increase revenue inflow.

Only a handful of business owners seek the protection of their original brands and literary works. Therefore, it is always important for all stakeholders to always seek expert advice from an intellectual property practitioner. Also, enforcement of these intellectual property rights through the institution of legal actions can lead to the removal of mischief makers of fake products and services from the market.

Emmanuel Otori has over 10 years of experience working with 100 start-ups and SMEs across Nigeria. He has worked on the Growth and Employment (GEM) Project of the World Bank, GiZ, and Consulted for businesses at the Abuja Enterprise Agency, NNPC, Oriental Energy, Eko Electricity, FCT-IRS, Nigerian Navy and NITDA. He is the Chief Executive Officer at Abuja Data School.