Intellectual Property Self Audit

Is Your Intellectual Property a Risk?

 Please review the list below. If you cannot answer "yes" to these questions, your intellectual property may be at risk.

DO YOU . . .

1. Require your employees and consultants to execute an invention, copyright and trade secret assignment agreement?

2. Advise your employees and consultants that the information they acquire or create is confidential and proprietary and is to be treated as such?

3. Conduct termination interviews with departing employees concerning inventions and trade secrets?

4. Stamp CONFIDENTIAL or TRADE SECRET on all documents containing information that is not generally known to your competitors?

5. Consider patent and trademark protection for all valuable products — both software and otherwise?

6. Mark your unregistered trademarks with a "TM" and your unregistered service marks an "SM"?

7. Seek Federal Registrations for your trademarks and service marks?

8. Following Federal Registration of your mark, use the "®" symbol?

9. Conduct full searches before adopting and investing in a trade name, trademark or service mark?

10. Consider recordation of your registered trademark with the U.S. Customs Service in order to prevent unauthorized importation of counterfeit or gray market goods into the United States?

11. Mark the statutory copyright notice on all software, advertisements, brochures and other material that is protectable by copyright? (The notice should include the "©" symbol, the year of first publication and the author/ owner of the copyright.)

12. Display the statutory copyright notice with any CRT display that is generated by copyrightable software?

13. Remember that the copyright in software written by a consultant most likely belongs to the consultant unless you have obtained a specific written assignment from the consultant?

14. Consider obtaining a Federal Copyright Registration for all important textual, literary or architectural materials? 

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