Intellectual Property

The idea itself cannot be protected. Intellectual Property law can only protect the expressions of your idea once it is crystalized in a tangible and protectable form.

Through copyright, trademark, or patent applications, your work, brand, or invention can be protected from use by competitors, given that you meet the criteria for registration. 

You should have a non-disclosure agreement in place before sharing your ideas with others, to ensure they cannot disclose the confidential information or use it for their own commercial purposes. 

Copyright is used to protect works of art, including literary, artistic, dramatic, or music works. 

In Canada, your work of art is protected by copyright the second it is crystalized in a tangible form. Even so, you may register for a certificate of copyright that serves as proof that you created your work of art by a certain date. 

A trademark need not be registered to be used and the users of an unregistered mark may acquire some rights at common law to use the mark. 

A trademark is granted by the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) to prevent confusion amongst consumers, allowing them to rely on the mark without being misled into thinking they are purchasing from one business when in fact they are purchasing from another. 

There are benefits to registering your trademark, including having potential superior rights to the user of an unregistered mark and the right to use the mark across the country in your market. There are remedies available only to holders of trademarks, including injunctions, seizure or destruction of infringing goods or materials, accounting on all profits earned by infringement, and more significant damages. 

A patent is a state-sanctioned monopoly granted by the government to use and exploit your invention and to stop others from doing the same. It is used to give yourself a 20-year head-start over the competition. 

To file a patent, your invention must meet the criteria of novelty, usefulness, and inventiveness. Your invention must be a product, a competition, a machine, a process, or an improvement on any of those.

To be successful, the inventor should further have a strong sense of what the essential elements of the invention are (e.g. A,B,C,D,E), and what makes you unique and competitive in the marketplace. 

A trade secret is any valuable business information that has commercial value that is derived from its secrecy. 

Protection of a trade secret requires that (i) the information has commercial value, (ii) the information is a secret, and (iii) the business has undergone reasonable efforts to maintain the secret. 

The best way to protect a trade secret through legal measures is to use non-disclosure agreements with any third party you share information with, and confidentiality clauses in any and all contracts concerning your trade secret. 

Software does not fall neatly into one IP category over another. In many instances, there is not a lot of legal protection for your software from competitors and copycats, other than being first and most competitive in your market. However, depending on its form, software could be protectable by patent, copyright, or contract. 

Your software could be protected by registering a process patent if you have created a unique process, and otherwise satisfy the criteria to be recognized as a new and useful invention. 

Your software could be protected by copyright as a work of literature. Litigation out of the US has recognized software as a work of literature that is protected by freedom of expression, yet this area of law is very novel and still under development. 

Your software can further be protected by contract. Intellectual property contracts such as NDAs, software licensing agreements, and IP assignment agreements can be used between you and third parties to ensure that your software remains in your sole possession and control.