Fundamentals of Business

Intellectual property

Documented or undocumented knowledge, creative ideas, or expressions of human mind that have commercial (monetary) value and are protectable under copyright, patent, service mark, trademark, or trade secret laws from imitation, infringement, and dilution. Intellectual property includes brand names, discoveries, formulas, inventions, know how, registered designs, software, and works of artistic, literary, or musical nature. It is one of the most readily tradable properties in the internet (digital) marketplace.

The dangers of ignorance against intellectual property laws
Example
Extracts from Northampton Chronicle & Echo, 22 July 2008 7:50 PM
Curry restaurant faces legal battle over name
An Indian restaurant in Northampton was facing High Court action today by easyGroup, the owners of easyJet, over its use of an orange sign and the name easyCurry.
Owners of the restaurant, which opened four weeks ago at Sol Central in Northampton, say they were told to change its orange and black signs and advertisements or easyGroup would start legal proceedings over copyright and intellectual property.

The restaurant did not remove the sign and Naz Uddin, the managing director of easyCurry, which charges customers £5 each and allows them to pay what they feel the food is worth, said: "I can't understand the fact that anybody can have the rights to a simple English word.
"And the reason why we used orange was to do with chicken tikka massala and the curry colour. The easyGroup - an umbrella company of Sir Stelios Haji Ioannou - owns the rights to 17 easy brands including easyJet, easyPizza and easyMoney.

A warning on its website states the company would take action against anyone "thinking they can make a fast buck by stealing our name and our reputation". The company urges members of the public to report anyone they believe may be using the easyGroup brand name.

Anthony Robb John, the managing director of easyGroup, said: "We don't want to comment on any case in particular, but we always take steps to protect our rights so the public aren't misled". he company always tries to stamp out what it believes are misuses of its brand, he said.

Easy name curry house clim climbs down
The curry house originally fought the ban, but agreed to the change after legal advice A new Indian restaurant has agreed to change its name after the international business Easygroup threatened action in the High Court.
Easygroup claimed the Northampton based restaurant Easycurry was copying its brand and they planned to prosecute.
Spokesman Naz Uddin said Easycurry had taken legal advice, was backing down and would soon rename the restaurant.
Mr Uddin said: "In one way or another I was inspired by Easyjet but I was not necessarily copying them. "We're changing the name but do they have a pay-as-you-eat restaurant like ours? Do they have a brand like this?"
The restaurant opened four weeks ago and allows customers to pay £5 and then whatever else they think their meal is worth - with no maximum or minimum amount.