Articles related to ‘Intellectual Property’
Tuesday, 11 October, 2011 | James Johnston
An important part of running a business effectively requires being aware of your own and other’s Intellectual Property (IP) rights.
All too often we see businesses battling over IP rights.
Take Sally and Peter as an example. They had been in business for about a year designing and selling what they thought was a unique product.
Their business was growing and they started building a reputation for… Continue reading
Wednesday, 9 March, 2011 | James Johnston
Recently we came across a business owner who went to a lot of expense re-branding his business. Unfortunately after his new brand was in place he found that he couldn’t protect it through trademark registration.Ironically, he could have registered various elements of his old brand including his company name.
Here are two significant steps he could have taken to avoid this unnecessary expense and inconvenience:
1. Understand the… Continue reading
Tuesday, 1 March, 2011 | James Johnston
Are you thinking about re-branding your business? If you are, you should be aware that the financial implications of your decision are potentially not limited to the costs of changing your letterhead. You may actually be under-estimating, and later under-realising, the value of your current brand.
Take, by way of example, Dave.
Dave is a painter who wanted to jazz up his branding. He had been trading… Continue reading
Monday, 28 February, 2011 | James Johnston
Does your business have a catchy name and/or clearly identifiable logo? If you haven’t registered it as a trademark, this could happen to you …
Bill started a very successful retail business and as a result of a quality product, memorable logo and significant exposure in the market, people very quickly learned about Bill’s business and recognised his logo when they saw it.
Shortly after starting his business… Continue reading
Tuesday, 22 February, 2011 | James Johnston
Recently, when acting for Robert, a client purchasing an existing business, we came across a business owner David (the vendor) who had not thought about intellectual property (IP). This left David trying to sell something that he couldn’t prove he owned! Why? Because, as is the case with many businesses, a significant part of the value of David’s business was intellectual property but he had not thought of it as… Continue reading
Wednesday, 25 August, 2010 | Alan Knowsley
Imagine slaving away in your business for years, relying on its sale to fund your retirement or your next business venture, only to find, when it is too late, that the value of your business is tied to Intellectual Property (IP) that you cannot prove you own. Without a basic understanding of IP, this has happened to many business people like you.
This free relaxed seminar will take the… Continue reading
Monday, 5 July, 2010 | James Johnston
Soccer fever has hit New Zealand largely due to the success of our national team making the cut for the World Cup held in South Africa last month. Cup fever hit South Africa also, and in the lead-up it inspired many South African businesses to try to get a slice of the action. However, as we saw in media coverage of the lead-up, many were shut-out of the lucrative market… Continue reading
Monday, 5 July, 2010 | James Johnston
Social networking sites have become increasingly popular and the range of material that is posted on these sites continues to grow. From photos, to videos, to blogs – there’s not a lot that people don’t post on their personal pages. But who actually owns this material? It’s not as straightforward as you might think …
A recent example in the media of a photographic image [seemingly] being misappropriated from… Continue reading
Monday, 5 July, 2010 | James Johnston
Tamati was in business but had a creative bent and so set about designing his own brand. After approaching a respected elder from his whanau, he incorporated a traditional Maori design into his branding. He also wanted to give his business a Maori name and so used a Maori word. Having spent time and money developing his brand Tamati wanted to make sure it was protected. He wanted to protect… Continue reading
Monday, 5 July, 2010 | James Johnston
Imagine spending years of your life developing that product which will be your ticket to business success and finally the financial rewards for all of your hard work, only to find that because of a loophole, the designs to your product have been “taken & sold” by the outfit who provided you with “free design work” as part of a manufacturing package.
The Entrepreneur and the Asparagus Sorter… Continue reading
