Protect your intellectual property
Welcome to Incubateme’s newsletter, curated by Alice Zhang.
Dear all,
If you own a brand with a unique name, slogan, recipes, packaging design, or product formula, have you thought of ways to protect your intellectual property (IP)?
A few weeks back, I was introduced to Brainbase, which build modern IP management tools. The team did a demo to me last week on their latest online trademark filing tool: File. I was impressed by its ease of use and affordable price! One use case is that if you want to join Amazon’s Brand Registry, you’ll have to prove to Amazon you are legit by trademarking your brand. And File might be an easy way for trademark filing!
For your information, I am talking to Brainbase to see if Incubateme members can get a discount or early-bird benefits. If you are interested in this topic, please let me know!
And the shared article below sheds some light on the basics of IP protection (in the food & beverage industry) for those who are not familiar with this subject.
Along with this week’s theme, on coming Thursday, we’ll get a chance to chat with Gautam Godse, the SVP of product at Brainbase and ex-LegalRoom, on his personal journey as a technologist bridging the gap between legacy legal systems and entrepreneurs. RSVP below!👇
If you have a boutique brand that you’d like to be featured in, please let us know!! 👉 JoinIncubateMe@gmail.com!
🌟 Naming and protecting your brand this Thursday, May 20th! RSVP here!
We are thrilled to have Gautam Godse, the man behind many online products such as Brainbase and LegalZoom, to speak and share his journey working with and for the entrepreneurs. RSVP HERE!
How to Protect Your Intellectual Property in Food & Beverage Industry
Have you ever wondered, how to protect the intangible assets of your product? How to prevent competitors from copying your work, intellectual assets, know-how? The Intellectual property rights were created ages ago, to give the exclusive rights for the creators to award them for their mental work, time and effort.
The question is not, “IF I should protect my company’s intellectual rights”, but rather “HOW can I protect such rights? WHAT rights my company have?”. No company can be strong without protecting its intangible assets. In the food and drink industry the exact same rule applies. Having a tough competition in the market, food and drink companies must take a particular attention to the trademarks, patents and designs they own. The competitors will not wait for too long, and will start copying the best-selling products.
So let’s talk in this article about the rights that are created in the food and drinks industry, how to acknowledge such rights and, most importantly, how to protect them.
The perfect example how much the intellectual property rights can be worth is “Coca-Cola” company. Do you know that the most valuable property of Coca-Cola is its trademark? In 2001 Coca-Cola trademark was worth $68.9 billion (in 2018 brand – $57.3 billion). Similarly, Pepsi’s brand value was $18.4 billion in 2018, ranking in the 20 most valuable brands in the World (source: Forbes “The World’s Most Valuable Brands 2018”).
The food and drink industry understands the value of the brand and seeks the protection of intellectual property created within. The most valuable aspect of the legal protection of your intellectual property is that it turns intangible assets into exclusive property rights. It enables you to claim ownership over your company’s intangible assets and exploit them to their maximum potential. In short, IP protection makes intangible assets a bit more tangible by turning them into valuable exclusive assets.
Intellectual property (IP) refers to unique creations such as inventions, designs, artistic and literary works, symbols and names used in commerce. It is a bundle of rights to the results of intellectual work and activity, which are protected by national and international laws.
1. Trademarks
A trademark is a word, phrase, symbol, logotype or combination of these that identifies and distinguishes the source of the goods and services of one party from those of another.
2. Design protection
Design protects the overall look of the product. So in the drinks and food industry the design can be found in the packaging (either bottle or the whole package), shape of the product (for example, Toblerone cholocate bar).
3. Patent rights
A patent is granted for inventions in all fields of human endeavour, scientific discoveries.
It is very likely that a recipe of a drink or novel mixture of food, can have patent protection. To receive patent protection, a drink or food must be novel, “non-obvious”, and adequately and clearly described in the patent application. Therefore, to know if your product can have the patent protection you must answer the following questions affirmatively.
Is the invention novel? Meaning, that the same product has never be described in the earlier patents or literature. You can check the novelty of your invention in the patent databases.
Is the invention non-obvious? Meaning that it involves a technical and mental step, that for the skilled person is not evident and apparent.
Does it have an industrial applicability? Meaning, it can be used in some technical process or field.
Recipes are indeed patentable subject matter and protectable either by defining a “new and useful process” or as a “composition of matter.” For example, the soft drink is a composition of “matter”, while the steps to make the drink can be patented as a “process”.
If you have a patent granted for your drink, you will prevent any other company to make the same or similar beverage. The monopoly of a patent is the broadest of all IP rights. If another company changes the recipe slightly, removes one ingredient or adds additional, most likely it would still infringe your rights and you could forbid a competitor offering such product.
5. Trade secrets
Another IP right actively used in the food industry is trade secrets. A trade secret is a formula, practice, process, or compilation of information not generally known or reasonably ascertainable by others by which a beverage business can obtain an economic advantage.
The table below summarizes the IP rights in the beverages industry:
Drinkpreneur.com
Featured business: Dieux
Company URL: www.dieuxskin.com
Location: Brooklyn, NY
Founders: Charlotte Palermino (CEO), Marta Freedman (Creative Director), Joyce De Lemos (Head of Product and Science)
Founded Year: 2019, Launched September 2020
Sales: 20,000 units sold in under 3 months
Business is about: cannabinoid-based and other skincare products.
🌿 Tell us about yourself, your company, and how you got started.
When we first saw the world of CBD, we saw brands rush to market with little testing or science behind miraculous claims. Before we got started on Dieux, which has morphed into a price transparent and clinically vetted skincare line, co-founders Charlotte and Marta met with cosmetic industry veterans and former patent makers L'Oreal's Active Cosmetics division Joyce De Lemos. After Joyce looked through the research on Cannabinoids and realized something was there, we started clinical studies to understand the correct dosing and hero ingredients that help boost efficacy.
In working with Joyce, the team realized that beauty tends to make many promises with little transparency, and there was a troubling trend of moving away from the science of skin. With that, Dieux launched the first-ever reusable eye mask that has been featured in ELLE, Vogue, The Cut, Vanity Fair and 30 other stories in just three months. With a product slate with a mix of cannabinoid-based products and not, Dieux is changing how we think of skincare, focusing on clinical vetting, formula transparency, and putting an end to misinformation with skincare.
🌿 How did you acquire your first batch of customers?
Social media, community building and creating a product that doesn't exist and is instagrammable was key to our success on social and acquiring customers!
🌿 What trends do you foresee for your industry? What is your plan for the future?
The future of cosmetics is science and sustainability; we need it! We think good things take time, especially with physical products. While there is a mantra of getting to market fast, I'm not convinced that it's the best move with a skincare product. It isn't easy to regain consumer trust in this space. The place to fail fast and learn quickly is your messaging and positioning, not your core product. For your product, make sure it's impeccable, even though it may take longer!
You made it to the end!
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