How Mobile App Applications are Protected through IPR? Patent OR Trademark OR Copyright?- In this vast technological era of 21st century, people are relying on mobile applications for their day to day living. We now have mobile based application for not only buying and selling clothes, but also for buying basic groceries, medicines, gadgets, and everything we could possibly think off. Living in such an advanced age, where we already have easy and effortless ways to fulfill our requirements, it is very difficult to think off making a mobile app for some unique innovation. The mobile app developer must not wait for a longer time to lunch the app since, on an average, 100 apps are created daily. The most important thing to bother is to show maximum concern towards protecting your own mobile application.
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- Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA): A non-disclosure agreement (NDA), confidentiality agreement (CA), confidential disclosure agreement (CDA), proprietary information agreement (PIA) , or secrecy agreement (SA) is a standard or formal document that can be used by an inventor to protect his/her invention. This document is signed between people involved in the invention, stating that who so ever hold their signatures in the document, must not disclose any legal or technical information behind the invention, to any one; otherwise, the person responsible for the disclosure will have to pay the damages.The tips mainly focus upon providing security to new mobile application developers to protect their new launches in the market. [How Mobile App Applications are Protected through IPR? ] – The following six ways will definitely offer protection for your mobile application, in one way or the other:
One can easily file an NDA through their attorneys or using online services. One must make sure that the signers must include their official information, such as full legal name, address, domicile, etc., while registering for NDA. This legal document will restrict the signers from disclosing any important information, thus preventing its infringement.
- Publishing the MVP App: Another possible way to safeguard your app is to publish a Minimal Viable Product (MVP) app. Once the publication is completed, your app will be disclosed and available in a public domain under your name. Now, once you get the name for the publication, no one else could use the same idea and develop the same app. Publishing will secure the app by the means of copyright. If anyone seems to use or take advantage of that app, then he/she will be considered as responsible for infringing the content of the app.
Since, published apps are more secured; therefore all the new apps must be published as soon as possible, even if certain improvements are yet to be incorporated in that.
- Trademark: Trademarking the design is also another possible way to protect your app. Trademarks are recognizable signs or designs that depict specific products or services, and restrict others from using the same mark to create brand name for their product or service. Also, trademark does not offer protection at that level as compared with patent, but still trademark infringement is a considerable option.
- Provisional patent application: A provisional patent application, is a preliminary application, that establishes an early filing date, and description, excluding the final claims sheet and specifications, that protects your idea for an year. Within one year of filing provisional application, non-provisional or complete application has to be filed that includes complete claims and specifications of the invention. During this one year after filing a provisional application, the inventor can easily get the idea about whether the invention is worth carrying out or not, through comments from the public side on the invention. It can easily be filed without taking help from any attorney, through USPTO online portal.
The next two steps do not involve any named process to secure the mobile-based invention, but still they must be considered depending upon the seriousness towards the invention.
- Know the recipient: A very important measure that must be taken by every inventor while choosing the right partners is to know the people (history, authenticity, past performances, and credentials) whom you are going to work with. This will help you as an inventor, to choose the right reliable team, without the fear of losing your confidential information in the market through these people.
While choosing members, care must always be taken more on freelancers, since they work with a number of industries at the same time, and they are more probable to disclose the data, than experienced members connected with proper firms.
- Selective information disclosure: A very important thing while laying or describing your application to someone that will be working with you as a partner, is to choose what are the general as well as exclusive specifications of the mobile app. As description, it is not necessary to give all the minute details about the invention to him on the very initial days. Only the general idea about the mobile app and its purpose will be fine for him to understand the work and decide whether to stay as a partner or walk away.
This will surely help the inventor create a great supporting and reliable team; thus assuring its privacy in the development phase.
Related Resource: Types of Patent Application
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