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4 ways SMEs can get started on intellectual property protection
Intellectual property (IP) protection is increasingly becoming important for small business owners in Southeast Asia. Here are four ways you can start to develop a strategy to both protect and profit from your innovations.
Without a strong IP strategy to protect your business, you run the risk of competitors stealing your ideas and passing them off as their own. On the other hand, once you understand how IP works, you can leverage it to profit from your brand and even increase the value of your business.
While it might be expensive to hire a lawyer to give you advice on intellectual property, you can get started on a strategy by following these steps, which outline the key things you need to know about IP.
- Research local requirements
IP is a broad description for intangibles or non-physical assets that are owned and legally protected from external use without consent. Companies obtain IP rights to protect brands, designs, inventions, software and works of art such as music, among other things.
Intellectual property is increasingly becoming important in Southeast Asia due to the sharp rise in regional trade that is expected to come with the newly established ASEAN Economic Community, which facilitates the free movement of goods and services. Companies who want to do business in the region are therefore advised to consider all 10 countries and protect their IP rights accordingly.
There are three main types of protections:
- Copyrights cover literary and artistic creations such as writing, music, photography, drawings as well as databases and computer programmes. While you do not need to register for protection, some Southeast Asian countries, such as Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, will allow you to do so if you choose to.
- Trademarks are distinctive signs that identify your goods or services and distinguish them from competitors. In Southeast Asia, you can register trademarks by filing applications at national administrative offices. You can also file an international application at the World Intellectual Property Organisation.
- Patents provide exclusive rights over inventions, which could be in the form of a new product or process. Southeast Asia has varying patent systems, but most countries in the region provide protection for innovations that are new and inventive.
As each country has different IP regulations, you will need to research local requirements where you operate and obtain protections in each market. These IP factsheets for Southeast Asian countries can also help provide more detail on local regulations.
- Use NDAs for contractors
Your IP strategy should also include measures to protect your innovations from people and companies you work with. The most common way to do this is using non-disclosure agreements (NDA), which are legal contracts between two or more parties that protect confidential business information.
They can be used when you work with other companies as well as with employees. Businesses that engage freelance, part-time and contract staff also often ask them to sign NDAs.
You can adapt NDA contract templates to suit your purposes. But if you have the budget, it's worthwhile consulting a professional to ensure contracts are appropriate.
- Protect digital assets
In the digital age, you can’t rely on contracts alone to protect sensitive business information from theft or exploitation. It’s also crucial to protect your digital assets with secure cloud-based tools.
When reviewing cloud services, you need to ensure they provide quality security. Check that they include data encryption for information travelling between the cloud and your organisation as well as multi-factor authentication.
You should also reinforce this with offline procedures such as implementing security policies for online risks and training staff about threats like social engineering.
- Profit from intellectual property
Your strategy should also include your long-terms plans to profit from IP. IP can be a major selling point if you later choose to dispose or merge your business. In addition, significant money can be made from selling or licensing IP – companies pay top dollar for the rights to use brands or proprietary methods for their own business purposes.
To start planning how you can profit from IP, you need to think strategically. Here’s some advice to SME owners from business strategy and law firm Rodgers Collective:
- Identify the value of your work and ideas.
- Research and obtain IP protections.
- Ensure you sell products under a brand.
- Explore avenues to sell or license your IP.
With entrepreneurial activity rising in Southeast Asia, now’s the time to start thinking strategically about intellectual property. Once you recognise the value of your innovations, you can begin to develop a strategy to protect them. Remember these steps:
- Research local IP regulations.
- Create and enforce NDAs.
- Protect digital assets.
- Make a long-term plan to profit from IP.