As an enterprise, its intellectual property rights are its intangible wealth and relate to the survival and development of the enterprise as a whole. As a result, a number of enterprises have been continuously protecting their intellectual property rights in recent years. Below is a short title of the chart which elaborates on the specific protection of intellectual property rights by enterprises。
What are the means of intellectual property protection for enterprises
I. Corporate planning and effective management of companies ' intellectual property rights
The business activities of companies may involve different forms of intellectual property, such as patent rights, trademark rights, copyrights (especially for computer software), business secrets, domain names, etc. It is therefore recommended that companies plan and manage the intellectual property rights involved:
1. The company may assign a person responsible for the administration of intellectual property rights, with a breakdown and file。
2. The extent to which intellectual property is of real value, importance to the development of the company, and the extent to which
Care costs etc. Are graded。
3. The creation of intellectual property data platforms, such as the china-china patent database, the china science and technology journal database, the china-china standards database, etc., provide up-to-date and up-date information on domestic and foreign data, avoid duplication of research leading to waste of corporate capital, and also avoid infringement on other intellectual property owners。
The combined application of intellectual property rights to protect corporate interests. The coverage of intellectual property rights is wide, and in some cases it is often difficult to claim a right effectively to protect the interests of a company in the event of a contract or dispute, which requires a combination of several rights, often with satisfactory results。
Ii. Different protections for different types of intellectual property
On the basis of an analysis of costs and expected benefits, companies should, at the first instance, engage professional agents to apply for intellectual property rights that may have a significant impact on the company, such as trademark rights, patents, copyrights, domain names, etc., in order to maximize the protection of corporate interests. In the course of cooperation with other entities or individuals, it is important to specify in detail the tenure, scope of use, duration, distribution of the results of subsequent research and development of the intellectual property rights involved and to sign the relevant legal instruments。
Legal issues that require attention in the protection of intellectual property rights:
1) protection of copyright of computer software:
Although article 6 of our regulation on the protection of computer software provides that chinese citizens and establishments shall have the right to copyright in accordance with this regulation, regardless of whether they publish it or not and wherever it is published. At the same time, however, article 24 of the regulation provides that registration of software copyright with the software registry authority is a prerequisite for the administrative processing or litigation of software rights disputes under the regulation. The registration certificate issued by the software registry authority is a preliminary proof of the validity of the software copyright or of the fact stated in the registration application document. To better protect the copyright of company computer software, therefore, companies should register software copyrights with software registry authorities for self-developed computer software, thus avoiding being passive in the event of disputes because of the inability to provide strong evidence。
2) protection of patent technology:
Before developing new technologies, the relevant technologies are checked to see whether they are available or whether they infringe on the patent rights of others and avoid blind projects。
Following a decision on r & d, a confidentiality agreement should be concluded with the technical staff, whereby the technological results obtained in the study are owned by the company, the technical staff may not take the relevant technical information away from the company, or engage in the same, comparable or competitive work as that performed in the original establishment for a period of time. The establishment of archives to ensure that technological advances are fully documented。
Upon completion of the development phase, patent agents are engaged to start patent applications。
If a similar patent is found to have been applied for later, the company should be able to use its prior right to apply for the invalidity of the patent. If it is found that another person uses his or her own proprietary technology, prompt investigation and evidence should be made of the infringer, the place where the violation occurred and the extent of the violation, the proceeds of the violation or the damage suffered by the company。
In the course of its cooperation with other entities, and depending on the content of the cooperation, the company should conclude the patent enforcement licensing contract, the technology development contract, the technology transfer contract, the technical advisory contract and the technical services contract in a timely manner。
Protection of trade secrets:
A. Establishment of commercial secrets
The type of business secret is first determined by analysing the cost of the business and the expected benefits, and then by which commercial secrets are covered and by what level of protection。
B. Taking systematic and effective measures
It is recommended that commercial secrets that have been identified for protection be protected by:
A. Business secrets that will need to be protected are divided into sections, managed by different staff, to minimize the number of persons in the enterprise who have full business secrets。
B. The classification of business secrets into different levels, depending on the importance of trade secrets, and the different levels of business secrets held by different levels of employees, and the obligations of confidentiality attached to employees are different。
C. In the case of commercial secrets where the value of technical information is maintained over a longer period of time, the personnel involved should be specially trained and entered into confidentiality agreements and competitive prohibition agreements with them, so that they have a longer confidentiality obligation. Conversely, there is generally no need for a specific obligation of confidentiality in respect of certain business information, especially those that are more affected by market conditions, unless it is particularly important to preserve it。
C. Developing a relevant confidential regime
Within the enterprise:
A. Establishment of confidentiality regulations and strict restrictions on access to information
(b) agreements with employees to foster a sense of confidentiality: in order for the confidential to be aware of the scope, nature and detail of the commercial secrets involved, a written form should be developed, where necessary, to sign a known document after the employee has been informed of the confidential information and trained in its confidentiality, as a strong evidence of the proceedings in the event of a future breach of confidentiality dispute。
Outside the enterprise:
When the business negotiates cooperation with another person, the parties to the negotiations shall be required to maintain the confidentiality of the information in question, regardless of whether the business secret is involved or not。
B. At the time the enterprise enters into a contract with another person, it shall expressly agree in the contract that the other party is under an obligation of confidentiality with respect to the confidentiality, the duration of the period of confidentiality and the extent of liability for breach of contract. In case of future problems, there is no evidence。
D. Disclosures
In the event of a breach of confidentiality, the relevant evidence must be preserved in a timely manner and, where necessary, notaries should be engaged to document the evidence, focusing on the collection of relevant material and witness testimony, and lawyers should be engaged as soon as possible to develop effective solutions to minimize the loss to the enterprise。
These are some of the specific measures that have been put in place to protect the intellectual property rights of enterprises. If you feel that the content of the minor explanation does not solve your doubts, you may wish to consult with the online lawyers on our law chart website and offer you professional legal services at any time。
