We’re all adjusting to a new normal, with many businesses having re-opened following a year of bushfire, flood and of course, a pandemic. COVID-19 has undoubtedly been the biggest disrupter for businesses in 2020, generating upheaval and uncertainty with many forced to literally close their doors overnight due to lockdown restrictions. In order to continue generating cashflow many businesses adapted and innovated rapidly, offering their goods and services in a different way or offering new goods and services altogether.
If you own a business that transitioned in response to COVID, you’re not alone. Restaurants offered contactless takeaway, personal trainers went virtual and museums started offering global visitors online tours. Responding in this way helped many businesses to survive, and in some cases introduced them to new consumers and markets.
What does this mean for a business’ intellectual property?
Whilst intellectual property protection in the form of copyright comes into play automatically, other protections such as trade marks require you to actively apply in order to protect your brand.
Many businesses spend years cultivating their brand. Part of this process usually involves putting measures in place to protect that brand – for instance, registering trade marks to give the business rights to use their intellectual property in various Classes. New elements of a brand or rebrands are well-considered and strategically implemented, providing businesses with plenty of time to protect their intellectual property ahead of launching new goods and services. COVID-19 blew that slower, strategic approach out of the water
The speed with which businesses were required to change means that considerations of IP may have been bypassed in favour of the urgency of keeping the business operating, and understandably so. If that’s the case for your business, however, now is the time to revisit your IP. If you intend to keep operating in a different format, or with a change in goods and services, it’s vital that you pause to review whether your existing intellectual property protections actually cover your business now and moving forward.
What if my current brand protection is redundant?
If it is, you need to act sooner rather than later. Work out what intellectual property assets you need to protect and start the ball rolling. This includes searching to see what intellectual property rights other brands hold so you can make sure that you haven’t inadvertently been infringing upon them. If you have been you may need to make further changes to distinguish yourself. You may also need to cancel existing protections that are no longer applicable to your business or apply for new protections to protect a new brand or product offering that you implemented.
I can review your existing protections, assess what protections you need to reflect the change in your business and ensure that your intellectual property assets are protected moving forward. Let’s talk.
