IP Protection during Coronavirus/COVID-19
Small businesses and entrepreneurs are being heavily affected by the current coronavirus/ COVID-19 pandemic, making the need for protecting your business’s Intellectual Property (IP) rights much greater. Even if your everyday business activities are not directly affected, chances are that some element of your business is experiencing disruption.
One of the key effects of the current environment is that businesses are unable to go about their work as they normally would. Therefore, the normal work flow can slow down, blocking necessary projects from moving forward. This disruption does not have to be a bad thing, however. An entrepreneurial-minded business person can look for the potential opportunities even in a crisis.
For example, Walt Disney Productions was established in 1929, right at the start of the Great Depression. Fortunately, those of us in the United States live in a free-market economy, based on the rule of law. It is beneficial to your business to see things optimistically.
Building your business well and positioning it for success requires a combination of strategic moves. There are things you can do directly, including supporting your customers by providing the best goods or services. There are other elements of building a business that are just as important, but can escape notice, such as protecting Intellectual Property (IP) rights. IP rights include protecting your brand through trademarks, or your inventions through patents.
Many successful companies have pursued IP rights in similar environments to that which we face today. FedEx (Federal Express) was started in 1971, after a recession, and pursued its first trademark in 1972. This trademark, followed by hundreds of others, has helped distinguish FedEx over competitors and become the market leader in package delivery.
Obstacles to IP Protection
These are some of the commonly perceived obstacles to pursuing IP protection:
They may take a significant amount of time to procure. A U.S. trademark may take at least 9 months to register. A U.S. utility patent may take at least 1.5 years just to be examined, and at least another year to procure an issued patent. However, it is our understanding that the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office is still running under normal operations. There is little expectation of additional patent or trademark application processing delays due to the pandemic.
Working on IP-related matters may take time and effort away from “normal” operations of a business. It can be difficult for a small business owner or entrepreneur to do all the things they want or know they should be doing to make their business successful. There isn’t anything inherently wrong or misguided about taking a “low-hanging fruit” approach, if it’s possible to earn income by simply undertaking normal business activities.
Investment in a business, whether it be time or money, is crucial to fostering growth of your business. Hewlett-Packard was formed in 1939, during a recession. They filed for their first patent in 1939, as well (but the patent wasn’t granted until 1942). The technology in the patent became the basis for their first commercial product, for testing sound equipment. This product was actually purchased by Disney!
Pursuing IP protection is not difficult in many instances, but can take up precious time or economic resources. For instance, even if filing a trademark application can be done by an attorney, it is still necessary for the business owner to have input in the initial trademark selection and vetting process. Similarly, if an invention may be protectable by a patent, the inventor still must disclose the invention to a patent attorney and work with them to prepare the application.
Why You Should Start Now
Because you may currently have additional time, now is an excellent opportunity to get started on patent and trademark applications that will help protect your business when the crisis is over and the economy begins to heat up again. Since the pandemic-related slowdown may go on for a number of months, there is a window to work on larger-scope projects too.
While other businesses may be contracting in size or effectively standing still, you can gain a competitive advantage by acting now. For example, the messaging app company WhatsApp was founded in 2009 during the Great Recession, and filed its first trademark application that same year.
There are innumerable factors that go into developing a successful business, but protecting a business’s IP is certainly one of them that shouldn’t be overlooked. Protected IP establishes value in intangible assets, so once your business achieves success, that value can be realized financially. As an extreme example, WhatsApp was bought by Facebook in 2014, for $19 billion! If you build your business well, investing in IP protection should have returns that extend beyond a shorter-term economic downturn.
Written by Benjamin Rothermel and Connor Jaccard.