One of the aims of this blog is to aid the understanding and
creation of Intellectual Property (IP). Intellectual Property refers to
creations of the mind that may be transformed into a functional, visual and/or artistic
form for the benefit and enjoyment of others.
One of the key goals of Intellectual Property Law is the protection of
ideas by the owner.
Ideas may be protected by various means; by copyrights in
the case of a literary or artistic work, by a patent- if you are an inventor
who has created a functional product, a trademark for your logo, product or cartoon character,
or by a registered design for the way a
product looks.
Regardless of what type of intellectual property you are
protecting, there will be a need to
share your ideas with some people such as investors, technical partners or
promoters, before the product gets to the market. At this stage, issues like confidentiality,
non-circumvention and non-disclosure become important.
Many years ago, I submitted a proposal to a Finance Company
in response to an open Request for Proposal (RFP). The lady who received my proposal was really
pleasant, and I was really hopeful.
After awaiting feedback for what I figured was too long a
time, I decided to approach someone in the company who ought to know about the RFP.
He came back to me saying he didn’t find my proposal in all the submissions.
However, he saw a proposal which was almost identical to mine (as per the copy
I showed him), and it had been submitted by a company the husband of the
pleasant lady worked for.
