Protection of know-how and business concept

The commercial concept is a key element in the identification of a brand by its customers.The preservation of its specificity is a strategic issue: the commercial concept must not be trivialized. The brand must work to ensure that its distinctiveness is preserved.
The difficulty arises from the fact that a commercial concept is not protectable as such, as a whole, under industrial property or intellectual property.

Method of protecting know-how and business concept

The identity elements that characterize the commercial concept may be the subject, individually, of protection under industrial property or intellectual property.

For example:

• the sign will be protected as a trademark;
• the same will apply to logos or graphic representations associated with the brand
• the goods or services will be designated by names also registered as trademarks;
• the furniture may be subject to protection under designs;
• patentable inventions used in the implementation of the business concept will be protected under patents;
• copyright will apply to the architectural concept of point of sale layout, photographs, content expressing the know-how of a franchisor, software, and more generally to all works of the mind as long as they are original.

It is therefore a question of defining the markers of the identity of the concept and for each of them, to verify by which technique of industrial or intellectual property they can be protected.

This addition of protection of isolated elements of the concept makes it possible to then implement a defense against counterfeiters, and to establish the definition of the commercial concept and its originality, which is useful for the success of legal actions based on parasitism.

To strengthen this protection, use is made of the contractual technique, useful to complete the protection system based on industrial or intellectual property, with regard to all distributors under the brand, in particular upon termination of the effects of the franchise agreement.

Effective protection for your know-how and business concept

Your business concept is protected from counterfeiting by competitors and valued by intellectual property rights.