Copyright and Trade Mark Policies

Intellectual property plays a key role in business. Many aspects of business involve different types of intellectual property such as copyright and trade marks and it is these two IP rights that form the focus of this month’s new Business document templates.

New Copyright Policy

Our new Copyright Policy template covers the use of copyright within a business by its employees, contractors, and others working on its behalf. Copyright within a business covers many angles including the creation of copyright works. Those works may be written, artistic, software-related, web-related, musical and many other forms besides. Furthermore, a great deal of copyright works used in the course of business will belong to third parties and it is important to ensure that such third-party copyright is recognised, respected, and only used with permission.

It is important, therefore, that all staff are aware of copyright, how it works, and how it applies to the myriad forms of copyright work they will come across in the course of their daily activities.

Key provisions in our new Copyright Policy cover the establishment of copyright protection, copyright ownership, third-party copyright and licensing, copyright infringement, and the handling of requests from third parties to use copyright owned by your business.

New Trade Mark Policy

Like the Copyright Policy, our new Trade Mark Policy also applies to employees, contractors, and others working on behalf of a business, and the use by them of trade marks – registered and unregistered – in the course of their duties.

Trade marks play a key role in distinguishing the goods and services of one business from those of another and provide a focal point for customer goodwill. It is important that they are used correctly so as to avoid the risk of them losing their distinctive character and becoming too generic to qualify for protection. The proper use of trade marks is therefore a central point in the policy.

Key provisions in the Trade Mark Policy cover the correct use of trade marks, including the use of notices to be used alongside them; third-party trade marks and licensing, trade mark infringement, and the handling of requests from third parties to use trade marks owned by your business.