Intellectual property is essentially describing the intangible assets in your business, that are the result of creativity. This includes assets such as patents, trademarks and copyrights.
It is important to remember you will probably hold intellectual property, whatever the size of your vaping business. This is particularly true in our ever-increasing digital world where you may rely on your intangible assets to operate and succeed.
What types of intellectual property might your vaping business have?
Intellectual property can come in many forms, including:
- The logo for your business and any brands you’ve developed
- Any products and product names you’ve created, including your own e-liquids
- Designs, such as product packaging for vaping devices or e-liquids
- Inventions, such as your own e-liquid recipes
- Software
- Photography or paintings that your business may have commissioned to promote your product range
- Music that you may have commissioned for advertising or promotional purposes
- Website designs
Why is intellectual property important to all types of vaping business?
Many vaping businesses may not think that they hold IP. But in its most simple form, as soon as you name your business, build a website or create a brand you generate intellectual property.
Many sources suggest that intellectual property can make up as much as 70-80% of the value of a business. So, it is not hard to see why it is important.
To get an idea of why intellectual property is important to your vaping business consider some of the following scenarios:
– Another business sets up a rival business with the same
name as your business
– Someone starts marketing an e-liquid which has the same name and recipe as
you’re already selling
– A website starts up which has a near identical URL to your business offering
the same brands and products that you market, taking web traffic away from your
site
Once a business recognises that they hold IP they can calculate the value that the IP contributes to their business. This can then help determine whether to apply for IP protection such as patents, trademarks and copyrights. These all give you certain rights when it comes to your creations, inventions, e-liquid recipes and other vaping product designs.
Intellectual property is also important for your business in ensuring that you do not, either intentionally or unintentionally, infringe on anyone else’s intellectual property. This could result in serious and costly legal action if you are found to be committing an infringement.
Watch this useful video from the Intellectual Property Office to get an idea of why IP is important to your business.
Is it important to protect my Intellectual Property?
Protecting your intellectual property is important because:
– It enables you to put a value on your intellectual property
– It gives any investors confidence in your business plan and viability
– It affords you certain rights when you are defending a potential infringement
– It protects your future income streams
Some types of intellectual property protection such as patents can be costly and time consuming to apply for, so it is worth carrying out an analysis of whether intellectual property protection is right for your business.
How important is intellectual property insurance?
Intellectual property insurance can prove invaluable when it comes to protecting your intellectual property rights. This is particularly true for smaller businesses, such as vaping retailers, who may otherwise not have the resources to defend an intellectual property infringement claim. Particularly if it is a much larger business which is at fault and infringing on your intellectual property.
One of the key areas in which intellectual property insurance can assist you is with covering the legal costs to both bringing about and defending an intellectual property infringement claim, as well as any court awards made as a result of the claim.
There are other benefits too, such as:
- Insuring historic IP registration costs
- Insuring future revenue streams
- Assistance with breach of agreements
Read our guide to Intellectual property insurance here: IP Leaflets Feb 2017
At Anthony Jones we are passionate about ensuring that our customers have the right insurance cover in place to protect their business success. This extends to intellectual property insurance where we think we can and have made a real difference to many small businesses. So if you have any questions about intellectual property insurance or the insurance needs of your vaping business don’t hesitate to get in touch with us – we are always happy to help. Call us on 020 8290 9080 or alternatively email us at ip@anthonyjones.com