With the theme “Intellectual property and small businesses: Taking big ideas to market”, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) celebrates World Intellectual Property Day this year, highlighting the role of Intellectual Property in helping to SMEs in the development of their commercial life in order to give them the strength that is required to stay in the market.
Nowadays it is not uncommon to hear the word entrepreneurship, and there are several factors that influence the growth of this type of business, either due to the young population levels in the region as in the Central American area, as well as the unemployment levels which makes entrepreneurship a way of self-employment. The SMEs represent a source of new job creation and at the same time promote innovation in our countries, which represents economic growth for each country.
The percentage of new ventures has grown lately, but even so, a feeling of fear persists since not all ventures continue for many years, and that is why we must become aware of what must be done to obtain the strength required to stay in business market. There are several factors, innovation is one of them, the main one in the case of entrepreneurships, constant training, making good use of the free digital tools that technology offers us and above all taking advantage of the benefits offered by intellectual property.
Intellectual Property plays a very important role for every business, and this does not escape the entrepreneurships, first of all, we could put as an example the role that brands play, the importance of their registration, since the brand registration provides to the owner the exclusive right of use, in such a way that another person cannot use their trademark without the corresponding authorization. In addition, we have that it is equally important to protect industrial designs, patents, copyrights, which include rights over computer programs, among others.
Every business requires an image, and requires its products and services to be identified from other products and services, so the use of the brand is the appropriate mechanism to do so. A brand can be any distinctive sign capable of identifying a product or a service, the types of brands are diverse, the important thing is that the brand will help consumers to identify your business, your enterprise of another already existing and to Identify and distinguish your products or services from the competition.
Brands are an important asset of great value to a business and are also durable. Trademark protection is for a period of ten years, but it is renewable consecutively for life, every ten years, if the owner desires.
Investing in a brand is an effective tool for the future of the business, considering the investment in the first place with adequate protection for its use and managing a good image of the brand.
It should be mentioned that the brand offers to its owner the opportunity to expand their business through brand licensing, franchising or replicating their business through third parties, for this they must have a brand that allows them to identify, differentiate and have made known your business. Adequate protection of intellectual property will help with this type of strategy that will be an ally in the development and expansion of the business.
There are many ways in which brands and other intellectual property rights help businesses, intellectual property is a tool that helps a business to be grow and prosper, therefore, the general recommendation is to proceed with the adequate protection of assets. intellectual property rights and thus take advantage of the benefits of intellectual property rights.