DIY Management: 5 things to know about how to protect your intellectual property

1. You bought it—but do you own it? If you pay an independent contractor to design your website, "in Canadian law, the contractor owns the copyright in that website unless they agree, in writing, to assign the copyright," says Scott. "Consider also obtaining a waiver of moral rights, which are...

Intellectual property lawyer Christopher Scott of Oyen Wiggs Green and Mutala LLP and Georg Reuter, partner at Richards Buell Sutton LLP, discuss who owns what information in the workplace

1. You bought it—but do you own it? If you pay an independent contractor to design your website, “in Canadian law, the contractor owns the copyright in that website unless they agree, in writing, to assign the copyright,” says Scott. “Consider also obtaining a waiver of moral rights, which are additional, non-transferable rights held by the author of a work.” And make sure your domain name is registered in your company name, not the name of the employee or consultant handling the registration.

2. Being public doesn’t mean it’s up for grabs
“Just because something is publicly available doesn’t mean it’s in the public domain,” says Scott. “Copyright enables the owner to prevent people from copying even if the copyrighted work is widely distributed.” That means that if you copy a photo off of Google Images and put it on your website, let’s say, then the owner of the copyright for that photo might sue. “This happens pretty regularly.”

3. Psst. Can you keep a secret? “If you have trade secrets—things that are secret and derive value from their secrecy—then take positive steps to keep them protected,” says Scott. Companies should enter into confidentiality agreements with their contractors, employees and third parties to whom confidential information and trade secrets may be disclosed, recommends Reuter. Adds Scott, “It can be advantageous to take additional precautions as well, such as training your employees.”

4. Protect your good name “Distinguish between a trademark registered with the Canadian Intellectual Property Office and a corporate name (for example, registered with the B.C. Corporate Registry),” says Scott. “The registered company is a much weaker protection of your name, and it really only stops other people from registering the same company name—and then generally only in the same province,” says Reuter. “If you had a Canadian trademark, you’d generally have Canada-wide protection.”

5. Protect your most important assets
“In many companies, particularly those with a technology or IP focus, your employees are your most valuable assets,” says Reuter. “When these employees walk out the door, your assets may be leaving with them.” To avoid these risks, he says, managers should encourage retention of key employees and ensure that the IP assets developed and managed by these employees belong to the company.