Tips on protecting your innovation


By registering your trade mark, you gain exclusive right to use the mark across Uganda for seven years. Registration is renewable after 10 years, Paul Murungi writes. 

Inventing something new is a process. You start with an idea and do research. You try new things. Some work, some don’t.  

However, there is no monopoly on good ideas. As you develop your idea into something tangible- whether that means building your business, or designing and creating a product to manufacture or sell; there is someone else who might be doing the same thing.

Protecting your creation gives you the ability to reap big from the benefits of your hard work. And that is why you need Intellectual Property (IP) rights for the creation.

Patrick Mugisha, the Assistant Commissioner of Innovations and Intellectual Property Management at the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, delves into the idea. Mugisha says intellectual property appreciates the novelty of ideas and creations of the human mind such as inventions, literary and artistic works, designs and symbols, names and images mainly used in commerce.  

Mugisha says Intellectual property rights vary, but more than one may apply to your creation.

A trade secret is information that gives you a business advantage over a competitor. Trade secrets can include; formulas, practices, designs, patterns, data compilations, devices, or instruments.

 To consider something secret, you need to keep it secret. Treating your innovation as a trade secret makes the most sense at the research and development stage. It also makes sense for innovations that could later be protected by patent or industrial design registration.

Copyright
Copyright means “the right to copy”, and Uganda’s copyright law prohibits anyone from copying specific types of works without the creator’s permission. 

 It is the executive legal right to produce, reproduce, publish, or perform an original literary, artistic, dramatic, or musical work including computer software programmes, or sound recordings.  Regardless of their merit or commercial value, the Ugandan law regards all original creative works as to be copyright material. 

Although copyright protection is automatic, having a certificate of registration from the Uganda Registration Services Bureau (URSB) is evidence that your work is protected by copyright.

Trademarks
A registered trademark is a way of protecting your corporate or brand identity. Everything that sets your business apart such as its name, product and service names, slogans, logos, taglines and even sound produces a brand image that your customers come to know.

By registering your trade mark, you gain exclusive right to use the mark across Uganda for seven years. Registration is renewable after 10 years.

Patents
A patent protects new products, processes, machines, chemical compositions, and improvements to any of these. Patents give inventors exclusive rights to their inventions for a period of upto 20 years, which can give you a competitive advantage in the market. 

An inventor can generate revenue by manufacturing and selling the invention without a patent. However, having a patent allows an inventor to take action against people who use, make, sell, or sell your invention without permission.

In Uganda, patents are granted to the first inventor to file an application, so it is smart to file as soon as possible after you complete your invention in case someone is doing something similar.

Industrial designs is also a type of IP. It protects the visual appearance of a product- its ornamentation, shape, pattern, configuration or any combination of these features.  Industrial design protection is for the appearance of a product. By registering your design, you get exclusive rights for up to 10 years. A registered industrial design gives you a legally enforceable right to use your product’s design.  

Acquiring IP rights
Acquiring and retaining intellectual property rights is a process. Mugisha   notes that acquiring intellectual property uses a “first come first serve basis.”

Acquiring intellectual property rights is also dependent on the type you are seeking for. For Patents, Utility Models and Industrial designs, this starts with drafting the claims, filing the application to any of the three routes such as the URSB at the national level, African Regional Intellectual Property Organisation at regional level, and World Intellectual Property Organisation.

 For copyright, it is automatic. However for proof of ownership, you need to file your innovation with URSB.