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November 29, 2008

Is Your Business Copyright Protected?

Intellectual property lawyers are warning business owners to carry out copyright audits to ensure their businesses won’t be sued for infringing copyright laws. They are also warning copyright owners to take measures to protect their copyrights and trademarks.

The credit crisis and economic downturn has seen a jump in court cases involving patents, trademarks and copyrights as business owners become more aware of the need to protect their assets.

According to the latest UK judicial statistics, copyright infringement claims jumped by 83 per cent last year.

There were 422 intellectual property cases in 2007, up from 230 in 2006, according to Judicial Statistics, the official records body. Small businesses that own copyrights and trademarks are also included in the statistics.

Tom Ferrand, director of trademarks at IP21, an intellectual property advisory service said during a downturn, companies start looking over their shoulder and enforce their rights against others rather than taking a forward – looking attitude and saying what new products can be launched.

Rising redundancies are likely to fuel the need for legal protection of intellectual property as people take sensitive information with them when they lose their jobs.

Protecting business copyright, trademarks and customer databases is vital because they are in effect the lifeblood of many businesses especially small businesses.

Posted by David at 2:16 PM | Comments (0)

November 27, 2008

Small Business Survival Tips from the Dragon’s Den

If you’ve ever watched the popular TV show, The Dragon’s Den” you know the panel of savvy entrepreneurs are only motivated by one thing, to make money and piles of it.

So what advice would a panel member like James Caan, who has been successful in buying and selling businesses have for small business owners who are cash starved from the present economic crisis?

Here’s is advice:

Consider moving to a virtual office such as renting office space ad hoc or joining a members club with good meeting facilities.

For those who are planning to set up a home base business, you should reduce your set-up costs by buying office equipment from auction sites like EBay.

Check out his small business advice if you’re not an entrepreneur who prefers to sit on the fence.

Posted by David at 6:50 PM | Comments (0)