When hiring a product design engineer to bring an idea to life, some entrepreneurs can be wary that their concepts could be stolen. Luckily, there are design rights and intellectual property laws in Australia and broadly in the world to protect us. In the pursuit of preventing idea theft, let’s run through intellectual property in today’s blog post to help give you peace of mind when working with product designers like E3K.
Is My IP Safe With a Product Design Engineer?
What Counts as Intellectual Property?
In design, your intellectual property is the idea and style, as well as how the product works. Although you couldn’t copyright the broad idea of a mobile phone, for example, you could copyright your specific style, operating system, etc. Basically, ‘intellectual property’ is a way of saying that the idea (property) came from your mind (intellect) and therefore should not be replicated by others. It includes anything that’s come from your brain and been turned into something physical, whether that’s a product design, artwork, symbol or logo, song, image, or even name.
What IP Rights Do We Have in Australia?
We’re able to protect our intellectual property in several ways in Australia, depending on the type of design or product. You can register for the following to make sure the right to an idea or design remains yours:
- Trade Marks: Often to do with your brand rather than your products, a trade mark can be a symbol/logo, letter, image, phrase, or part of your packaging/overall design and look. Trademarking your brand identity is important in ensuring that others can’t pretend to be you, steal your brand idea, or use it to cause harm.
- Patents: When you invent something, you need to register it as a patent before telling anyone else about it, else you risk losing the right to it. However, by patenting something you’ve come up with, you protect the invention as yours. This means no one else can take the idea.
- Design Rights: This focuses on the appearance of your unique product, which is a major player in product design. To be protected by design rights, your new product must be different to existing similar products. For example, you may create a new engine part, but could claim design rights if it has a unique shape or function.
- Copyright: This actually doesn’t need to be registered, and is more often referred to in artistic and literary spaces. As soon as you create something (like a book or song), as long as you can prove you created the IP first, it is considered copyrighted to you. Unless your product is part of the arts industry, you likely won’t need to worry about copyright.
Registering your IP can also be a good business idea when it comes to licensing and leveraging. Other companies may want to use your design, so you can allow them to do so for a fee you negotiate, bringing in further revenue. So, sometimes another company using your idea can be a good thing!
Who Owns the Design – Me or the Designer I Hire?
When you hire someone to design a product for you, they’ll provide a contract that clearly states who owns the design. This owner should be you, as you’re paying them for the service of creating your idea. They may also add fees for commercial use. While some types of designers are doing design for people to use for personal use, other times they’ll be hired to design something made to make money (something commercial), which can cost more as they know you’ll be profiting off their work. There may also be fees for how long you can use the design and how, so always check the contract and clarify.
In general, it’s always important to do your own research and talk with the designer frankly about their fees and IP policies, as all scenarios can be different.
How Can I Protect My Work?
There are, of course, ways to protect your work from conception to release, therefore preventing idea theft. However, it’s important to research which is best for you.
- Trademarks: These can be expensive, so consider carefully at the startup of your brand if this is something you want to invest in. Protecting your brand is important, but focus first on your products and how well they perform before putting too much of your budget into trademarks.
- Patents: As mentioned above, patents are all about keeping quiet when you have a new invention. Telling everyone about it can cause you to lose the right to it. When telling people or working with designers, have them sign NDAs (non disclosure agreements) so they can’t share it. Patent as soon as possible.
Since Australian IP rights are only enforceable in Australia, it’s important to look into your rights internationally. You may need to register in other countries as well, so it’s worth researching your global rights and how to best protect your design.
What Do I Do if My Idea is Stolen?
If your idea is stolen before you’ve trademarked or patented it, there may not be a lot you can do. If you have protected yourself legally, however, you should be able to fight for your right to your IP. First things first, contact an intellectual property lawyer to help, as they’ll be an expert who can guide you. Typically, the first action will be a cease-and-desist letter to the person who has stolen the IP, which asks them to stop using it (or you will move forward with legal action). Then, if they ignore the letter or refuse, you may begin negotiations or plan court proceedings.
Contact E3K
Are you ready to start designing your new product idea with expert product design engineers who have years of experience and many happy clients? You can trust us to guide you and help you with your products at E3K. Send us an email or give us a call today, and we’ll be happy to start discussing the next steps of your business.