1. What you create may not actually belong to you
If you are an employee, or if you sign a contract commissioning an invention (or some other work), it is more likely than not that the inventions you create will belong to the employer, or to the person who commissioned the work unless the contract specifies otherwise. It is prudent to read your contract and be fully aware of the status of any intellectual property that you create in any commercial arrangement or relationship. Read what you sign and seek advice where necessary.
2. Copyright protects the form of expression
Copyright protects the originality of expression, it does not protect ideas. Copyright will protect the unique sequence of words and phrases used to create a novel, but the protection does not extend to the idea carried by the story. For example, if it is a romantic story, copyright will prevent another from authoring their story in the way you have; it will not prohibit them from writing another romantic novel.
3. The law of confidence protects ideas
The law of confidence (or confidential information) protects the substance of ideas. When you do not wish to make the necessary public disclosures that accompany copyright protection, or registration of patents, you can choose to protect the information through confidentiality agreements (or by keeping it completely secret). The information may be a trade secret that you would prefer not to disclose for purposes of market advantage and competition, or employee misuse. But you cannot protect, through the law of confidence, what is already in the public domain, or what you have voluntarily disclosed to a recipient.
4. Patents do not protect methods and processes
A patent is an exclusive right granted to the inventor of an industrial creation for 20 years. To qualify for a patent, the inventor must make certain public disclosures in the application for registration. After 20 years, industrial creation passes into the public domain.
A patent does not protect methods, theories, and processes; it only protects patentable creations with industrial application. Therefore, if you create a useful process or know-how that is not patentable, you may consider protecting it as a trade secret under the law of confidence.
5. You cannot sue for an unregistered trademark
A trademark is a registered distinctive mark used in relation to the sale of goods or provision of services. If another person uses your unregistered trademark, you may sue the infringer for passing off not trademark infringement. Unlike copyright where the protection automatically subsists in the work once reduced to concrete form, actions for trademark infringement are only allowed where the mark is registered.
This article is for general information; it is not legal advice. For any assistance, kindly contact us for guidance if you wish to rely on it.