I often receive questions from clients and curious individuals, such as: “How can I patent my brilliant idea?” or “Can I copyright my business name?” My response is usually another question: What have you created? What are you trying to protect?
These questions are not meant to confuse, but rather to help identify the specific subject of the inquiry because different creations fall under different forms of intellectual property (IP), each with its own path to protection.
As a creator, inventor, business owner, or entrepreneur, you have probably read or been told that you need to protect your intellectual property. IP is valuable today more than ever, with knowledge forming the most significant business asset. IP is a subset of this knowledge—creations of the mind that are intangible assets, such as branding tools (trademarks), inventions (protected by patents, utility models, or industrial designs), artistic and literary works (copyright), and confidential information (trade secrets). Protecting your IP gives you a competitive edge, enables you to trade freely and securely, and supports business growth.
So, what exactly is IP protection?
IP protection refers to the legal rights granted to creators and inventors to protect and exploit their IP assets and control if and how others can exploit these assets.
These exclusive rights give you control over how your IP assets are used. You can stop others from using them without your permission, allow others to use them for a fee, or transfer ownership altogether.
The First Question: What Have You Created?
To understand how to obtain IP protection, always start by asking yourself: What have I created, or what do I want to protect? Different types of IP assets require different forms of protection and follow distinct procedures. Broadly, these procedures include confidentiality, creation, and registration.
1. Protection by Confidentiality:
Confidentiality is crucial when protecting trade secrets or when you want to protect your ideas before or during implementation or product development.
a) Protecting Ideas
Every ground-breaking technology, medicine, catchy name or phrase, a song hit, a successful business strategy starts as an idea. You sit in your room and get thinking, or at a round table with your colleagues brainstorming and come up with brilliant ideas. You might wonder how to protect these ideas. Unfortunately, IP does not protect ideas. Rather, what is protected is how the ideas are expressed; the technical products or processes that result from these ideas, or the literary, scientific, or artistic works that arise. This is to prevent monopolies over general concepts, as many people can have similar ideas; what matters is how those ideas are implemented, which makes it more practical to protect the results than the general concepts/ideas.
Confidentiality becomes vital here. While ideas are not protected as IP, you can take proactive steps to keep them confidential, especially when discussing them with potential partners or investors. The best way is through confidentiality agreements or Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs), which define exactly what information is confidential and restrict how it can be used or disclosed, as well as legal remedies if the information is misused or disclosed.
Other useful ways include keeping proper records throughout the ideation to development process, including email exchanges and maintaining written communication to always establish a trail of ownership in the event that the question of ownership arises in the future.
b) Trade secrets
Trade secrets are a form of IP that protects confidential information which is of commercial value and gives the business an advantage on the market. Examples of such information include: marketing strategies, business operations, computer technology, customer information, recipes and formulas, e.t.c.
Protection for trade secrets is mainly achieved through keeping the information secret forever. The most common example of a trade secret is the Coca Cola recipe which to this day remains unknown to the general public. To ensure that secrecy is achieved, use NDAs, clear internal policies like employment policies to ensure employees adhere to confidentiality during and post-employment, and external policies to control ho information is exchanged with third parties.
2. Protection by Creation
Many people assume IP is only for large companies with research and development teams, but almost anyone can own IP. For example, if you take a photo even using a simple phone, you already own IP, specifically, copyright.
Copyright protects literary, artistic, and scientific works; such as articles, books, software, music, films, and architecture. Copyright protection is automatic upon creation, as long as the work is original. Originality means the work was created independently, not necessarily that it is new or unique. For example, two people can take identical photos of the same scene and both will own copyright in their respective images.
In some countries, including Uganda, the work must be fixed in a tangible form (e.g., a printed photo, a song saved on a DVD, or software code on a drive). This requirement prevents people from claiming copyright over mere ideas.
As copyright protection is automatic, registration is not required for one to obtain copyright protection. However, registration is highly recommended because the registration certificate serves as proof of ownership making enforcement easier in case of disputes and also making licensing or selling your work easier, hence offering stronger protection.
So, if you have written a book, composed a jingle, or developed an app, congratulations! You already have protection. Just make sure it is original, properly saved and documented – and to be on a safer side, have your work registered.
3. Protection by Registration (Trademarks, Designs, Patents)
For some forms of IP, you must seek registration before you can fully claim IP protection and enforce your rights. This involves filing an application with your national IP office (e.g., Uganda Registration Services Bureau URSB in Uganda), a regional office (like ARIPO or OAPI in Africa), or through international systems under World Intellectual Property Organization – WIPO Here are the different forms of IP that require registration:
a) Trademarks
Trademarks are signs, words, logos, or even sounds and scents that distinguish your goods or services from others. They are essential branding tools for businesses.
In Uganda, you must register a trademark to claim exclusive rights and seek legal remedies if your trademark is used by someone else without your permission. The process includes; filing an application online, the application is examined and if it complies with all formal requirements and the mark requested is found to be distinctive (capable of distinguishing goods of your entity from those of other entities) in addition to other conditions- a notice for publication in the Uganda gazette for 60 days is sued. If no one files an opposition challenging your right to the mark as published, the you apply for a certificate of registration.
Once registered, your trademark is protected. You can stop others from copying it, sue for infringement, and allow others to use it at a fee. Your registration certificate is your legal proof of ownership.
In some countries, unregistered trademarks may receive limited protection through use, but in Uganda, registration is mandatory for one to obtain trademark protection for their mark and full exclusive rights.
Trademarks in Uganda are protected for an initial term of seven years, following which they become renewable indefinitely for ten-year periods subject to payment of a renewal fee of Ugx. 100.000 for local applicants and 250usd for foreign applicants. The renewal fee is paid every ten years.
b) Industrial Designs
These protect the visual appearance of a product like the shape of a chair, a mobile phone, or packaging. To get protection, you file an application and if the design is found to be new upon examination, a notice for publication is issued and if no objections are raised, you receive a certificate of registration.
In Uganda, registered designs are protected for 15 years of five-year consecutive terms, and during that time, you can prevent unauthorized copying or use by others, or allow other producers to use the design at a fee.
c) Patents
A Patent is a legal document that grants an exclusive right on the patented invention, which is a product or a process that provides, in general, a new way of doing something, or offers a new technical solution to a problem. Examples of inventions include products like pens, safety pins, phones, a water filtration device, a food preservation method or substance e.t.c. Inventions are very technical in nature because they arise from the application of scientific, engineering, or technological knowledge to solve practical problems or create new devices, processes, or systems.
To get a patent or patent protection:
- Your invention must be new:
This means that it should never have been made or published anywhere in the world. When you apply for a patent, a thorough search is made to ensure that there is no record of your invention anywhere in the world. If there is a record, it will form part of what is known as prior art. Prior art simply refers to any information or evidence that shows your invention was already known or available to the public before the effective filing date of your patent application. Prior art includes anything that has been disclosed anywhere in the world such as published patents, patent applications, scientific articles, books, public demonstrations, commercial products, or even presentations at conferences.
Always exercise caution is the research and development stages to ensure that you do not disclose your invention prematurely, but also utilize information available online on existing inventions and patents to avoid re-inventing the wheel or spending time and resources inventing something that already exists.
- It must involve an inventive step or non-obvious,
An inventive step means an addition to a product or process, or the product or process itself that is not an evident or straightforward improvement over existing products or knowledge. If someone skilled in the area could easily think of your invention as the next logical step, it’s not patentable. The invention should be a real leap forward, not just a minor tweak or combination of things that already exist. This requirement is also known as the non-obviousness requirement, meaning that your invention must not be obvious to someone with ordinary skill in the relevant field where you invention falls.
- It must be industrially applicable or useful
The invention must have a specific, substantial, and credible use. In many countries, this is called “industrial applicability,” meaning the invention can be made or used in some kind of industry. It must also be capable of being reproduced at a large scale.
Your invention must do something practical. It can’t just be a theoretical idea but it has to work and provide some real-world benefit. Some researchers have at times written papers coming ups potential inventions and they proceed to seek patent protection for the theoretical products. This is a common mistake. You have to work your idea or theory and produce a workable solution before seeking patent protection. It is the only to prove that your invention is useful and can be reproduced and as earlier mentioned, IP does not protect ideas.
If your invention meets these criteria, you can file an application with the relevant IP office. In Uganda, patents are granted for up to 20 years, provided maintenance fees are paid annually. Patent protection allows you to prevent others from making, using, selling, or importing your invention without permission.
So, how do you obtain IP Protection for your IP assets?
Simple:
- Copyright: If your work is original and fixed in tangible form, you have automatic protection.
- Trademarks, Designs, Patents: You must apply for and obtain a registration, certificate or patent accordingly.
- Trade Secrets: Protection depends on your ability to keep the information confidential.
It is a common misunderstanding that once you register your intellectual property, the job is done. But the truth is, protection is not a one-time event, it is an ongoing process. Once you have your trademark, design, or any other IP right secured, you need to actively monitor how it is used in the marketplace and be ready to enforce your rights when necessary. This is how you ensure your IP continues to work for you.
Begin with IP in Mind!
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. For tailored guidance, please consult a qualified IP professional.
About the Author: Paget Owembabazi is an Intellectual Property Consultant and founder of OASIS IP – Intellectual Property Consultancy. She is passionate about simplifying IP for entrepreneurs and creatives to promote IP-driven business growth and the use of IP as a tool for achieving sustainable economic development.
