Intellectual Property Protection- Patents, Copyrights and Trade secrets

 
Have you designed new software program? Are you afraid that your hard work might get stolen? Secure you efforts with intellectual property protection and inhibits all your fears.


If you are software programmer and have come up with highly advanced program, it is essential for you to protect it from getting copied by your contenders. This intellectual property can be protected by dissecting it into three major portions that is function, design and code. Function, on the whole is the idea of your program, design is how your program is structured and in the end, code is a language that in which the program is written that includes source code, object code and any instructions code lines. Patents look after function and design and in some cases code too. On the other hand copyrights look after code and design where trade secrets guard code, design, and, in some occurrences, function too.

Let’s expand on knowledge on the above Intellectual Property Protection providers:

Patents
Patents are protectors of novel inventions, innovations and other new development. The patents are synchronized greatly and could take from two to five years to attain patent safety. After getting the patent for the desired software, it is valid for 20 years front hr date of filing. It has and there are many strict rules on how to write a paten and claims and description, drawings, and other rule-specific requirements must be enclosed. The Patent owner receives private right to keep away others from making, using, selling etc.

Copyright
The subject matter of copyright is a verbalization of the original work. It looks after code and in some cases also guard design as they are the articulation of ideas. As it does not shield ideas, function of your program is unprotected and vulnerable to thefts. The level of protection provided by copyright is low as compared to the level of patents. It takes nearly no time to give you protection and is effective upon creation of the copyright as it does not require registration. But registering your copyright gives you some extra benefits such as ability to litigate others, eligibility for expenses including attorney’s fees and statutory compensation.

Trade secret
Trade secrets shield undisclosed information as long as it is kept secret and unknown to the public. Therefore, trade secrets protect the code, the design, and the function of your software program. The validity of protection limited to the time the software is kept secret. The cost for trade secret is calculated on the level of secrecy required by the owner. The trade secrets give its owners an elite right to put a stop to people who are in a lieu of and disclosing it.

After the above overview of protectors, now it depends on you that what kind of Intellectual Property Protection you want for your software program.