Protect Your Business Productivity Software!

Great Ideas for Protecting your Business Productivity Software

The key with any software program like business productivity software is that you need to protect your ideas. With so many different programs out there that deal with business productivity software, how do you determine that yours is unique and one that will make a difference? What is crucial in this respect is that you protect your software so that it is yours and cannot be copied by people that want to find a cheap way to make a few bucks.

Get a Trademark, Patent, or Copyright

When it comes to keeping your ideas and business productivity software safe, you need to get one of three things or a combination of them.

The biggest way you can protect yourself is through a patent. You will find that it will cost some big dollars to get a patent and you will want to hire a patent attorney that can get it done for you efficiently. Patents are only good in their country of issue, so you’ll potentially have to patent it a few times.

There are also trademarks which add a “TM” to the name. What this basically does is give you an ownership over a name, and you can add on the registered symbol. You may want to trademark multiple things and it is a relatively easy process. Make sure that you search the trademark database to make sure yours isn’t there already or that there isn’t one that is highly similar. Compared to a patent, the cost of obtaining a trademark is miniscule.

Your other option would be a copyright. With a copyright, you get a lot of protection for very little cost. The copyright will keep your business productivity software safe in the sense that it will protect the code, the software, and the documentation that you have. Your copyright kicks in the minute that you publish it. However, you should formally register it so that you are able to protect it even more.

Hire a Firm or an Attorney that Deals with These Laws

It can be difficult to stay on top of all of the laws and regulations that go along with a copyright, trademark, or patent. Therefore, it is important to find an attorney that specializes in this.

There are all kinds of different attorneys out there, but you want the one that specializes in patent law. The thing with patents is that they are expensive and the paperwork is tricky, so it is wise to hire an attorney to handle this process for you instead of trying to muddle through it yourself, which may end up costing you more in the end. Pay a professional to patent your business productivity software; it is well worth it.

Use an attorney for the trademarks and the copyrights too. There are a few tricks to registering these, so do yourself the favor of hiring an attorney. If you want to make sure that you get what you need for your business productivity software, do it the easy way. Sure, you’ll pay them a few dollars, but it is well worth the hassle it prevents.

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