By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
An online seminar is being held to instruct northwest Missouri small business owners on the best way to protect their intellectual property.
The Missouri Small Business Center in St. Joseph will host the seminar being taught by officers with the federal Patent and Trademark Office.
Regional Director Rebecca Lobina says using a trade mark, a patent, or a copyright doesn’t just protect a business’ finance, but its reputation.
“So, if you think of your business reputation or your name as your reputation, if you’re an author or someone like that,” Lobina says during an appearance on the KFEQ Hotline. “So, yes, it protects your reputation as well as your business and your financial interests.”
The intellectual property online seminar sponsored by the Northwest Missouri State University center will be held July 6th from 11am to 12:30pm. It is free. You can register by contacting the Small Business Center office at the St. Joseph Chamber of Commerce or through Rebecca Lobina’s Facebook page.
Lobina says it’s a really good idea for small business owners to protect their intellectual property through a trade mark.
“If you have created a logo for your business or, your business has a unique business name, right? And so that’s registered with the Secretary of State, but you can also trademark that name as well so that it goes beyond the scope of just the state of Missouri,” Lobina says. “It’s a national protection for it.”
A patent is more complicated and more expensive. Trade secrets can be protected as well.
Lobina says it can be a wise business decision to establish a trade mark so that others cannot coast on your good name.
“That’s where you end up getting people’s reputations or business reputations sullied if someone else has a very similar likeness, if you will,” Lobina says. “They drive it downhill and then you think it’s one and the same, but it’s not the same business.”
As for copyright, there is a prominent example of what happens when that lapses after 95 years into public domain.
“A recent incident with that was Winnie the Pooh,” Lobina points out. “It was good for 95 years and so, last year, in ’22 I believe was the first year that anybody could use Winnie the Pooh.”
And, use Pooh they did; nothing like the children’s books. Movie producers jumped on the opportunity of Winnie the Pooh entering the public domain to create a horror movie of all things: Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey.
Tigger is safe, for now.