By Megan Aanstoos
What do Broaster Chicken, “Shake It Off,” and the Sexy Illusions Push-Up Bra have in common? They are all products protected by intellectual property (trademark, copyright, and patent, respectively)! Many familiar products have emerged from universities, including Warfarin, Gatorade, Google, Tango Mandarins, and NexStride (a VentureWell E-Team Program innovator!).
For these examples to succeed commercially, they needed to be developed from an idea to an innovation to a product. Along the way, their inventors (or the institution where the inventor was working) filed for intellectual property (IP) protection to enhance the value of their work on the market and provide the products with a competitive edge.
What Is Intellectual Property?
Defined by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) as “creations of the mind, such as inventions; literary and artistic works; designs; and symbols, names, and images used in commerce,” IP is the cornerstone of many products in the marketplace today, providing significant value by granting inventors the exclusive right to prevent others from making, using, offering for sale, selling, or importing their invention within protected geographic regions.
Intellectual property is restricted to the countries for which it has been filed. If you wish to protect your product in Japan, the United States, and Denmark, you must file for protection in each of those jurisdictions. Additionally, many products are composed of multiple forms of intellectual property—for instance, a cell phone has patented products (chips, screens, antenna), copyrighted products (software code), and trademarks (Apple). You’ll likely need a combination of intellectual property to obtain the strongest protection for your innovation.
Innovate Smarter: Cost-Effective IP Resources
The process of determining whether someone has invented something and whether it is worth protecting is challenging and can be costly. Last year, we shared resources on types of intellectual property. This year, we are sharing five free resources to help you on your journey to protecting your property.
1. Institutional Resources
If you are working with a higher education institution or a larger company, your first stop should be your technology transfer office. These offices (also called knowledge exchange, knowledge transfer, business development, or even the general counsel/legal department) can provide you with everything from insights on how to develop your idea into an innovation to how to market it, and even cover the costs associated with obtaining intellectual property. The office, which typically works on behalf of the institution, will request an invention disclosure form and information about your proposed invention. It will then comb through a myriad of resources (including some of those listed below) to determine if you have something protectable, the best strategy for that protection, and next steps.
2. The Inventor’s Patent Academy
The most common challenge inventors struggle with is understanding the patent process and what the journey entails. Unlike copyright and mark protection, which are detailed below, patents require more extensive knowledge of what is patentable, what is already patented, and how to draft a patent properly. The Inventor’s Patent Academy (TIPA) is a free course divided into three segments of two- to three-hour learning modules presented in short, digestible lessons that can be completed at your own pace. Developed by a team of experts in the legal field; the diversity, equity, and inclusion field; and the business community, this is a great starting point before you dig into the other resources to expand your knowledge and delve deeper into patents.
3. The United States Patent and Trademark Office
In many countries, the Patent and Trademark Office, or an equivalent, is responsible for managing some, or all, of that country’s intellectual property. They can issue patents, marks, and copyrights as well as provide insights into what has already been protected and what to do once you obtain protection. In the U.S., the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) offers a wealth of resources for inventors, covering the basics of trademarks, copyrights, patents, and even scams to avoid. You can learn about the costs associated with protecting your idea and where to find help with filing your patent or trademark. Take advantage of the USPTO’s free resources, whether in person or online.
4. WIPO Academy
WIPO offers a variety of free courses online and worldwide through its WIPO Academy. You can learn more about geographical indications (champagne, anyone?!), industrial designs, or scent marks. Some of these courses are free, and others require a small fee. If you are an educator, for instance, WIPO offers curriculum, guidance, and activities for six- to 26-year-olds in multiple languages. WIPO also runs a variety of workshops, seminars, and webinars with downloadable documents for live or asynchronous learning.
5. JUSTIA and Google Patents
At this point, you may be thinking, “I just want a quick search tool” or “I have a specific question I need answered.” This is where JUSTIA and Google Patents come in. While it is not recommended to use these to put in specific details of your own invention (see “public disclosure”), they are easy to use for quick answers, for insights into other patents, or to understand how patents are structured.
6. Bonus: What About Artificial Intelligence (AI) Tools?
Nearly everywhere you go, AI is part of the conversation—even in intellectual property development. However, AI is created by training on your data and the data of everything fed into the algorithms. Therefore, any data you feed into an AI algorithm is likely to be used in the future. This means it is potentially a public disclosure, and your protectability opportunity drops; additionally, the chances of someone else learning about your novel idea or using it increase. Most lawyers recommend not using AI at this time for any information you want to keep confidential.
We hope these resources will help you move forward with your ideas more confidently, developing them into innovations, protecting them, and bringing new products to the marketplace that will help improve our world. Happy World Intellectual Property Day—celebrate by listening to music with the WIPO theme for 2025 and get pumped up to start your journey!