Protection For Your Intellectual Property

So you’ve Googled yourself, to see where you may be found on the Web; and you find that someone has printed one of your stories without your permission! What kind of protection did you have from that? And isn’t your story your intellectual property, not someone else’s? You do have protection by law from other people publishing your intellectual property without your permission. According to new legislation recently passed, whether you file a copyright or not, you own your intellectual property for 75 years, renewable at the end of that period by you or your heirs. So what kind of protection is that, really? It depends. If you wrote a little article, and someone stole it and put it on their site, you really can only complain to them and, if they don’t respond, to their ISP without spending more money than the piece is worth. But if you let them have it rather than looking for intellectual property protection, you may be allowing your story to become public domain – anyone can use it. If you later became the next Stephen King, the creep who stole your story may own the intellectual property rights because you did not complain. If you have invented something, the best protection for your intellectual

property rights is to file a patent with the US Patent Office. For this you’ll need an attorney; they can write the documents and do patent searches for you. The best protection for your intellectual property is vigilance. If you know someone is using your intellectual property, protect it by letting them know it belongs to you – and document this. You might even send them a contract to sign. Protection for your intellectual property is a very confusing area these days; but if you speak up and let the thief know he’s a thief, and save documentation on this, you may be able someday to recoup any losses from them. Never forget that your intellectual property really does belong to you.