59 Confidential And Proprietary Information
Learning Objectives
Discuss why information that might be confidential or proprietary
Introduction
When you start your employment at a company, you may be asked to sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA). This means that you agree never to reveal to anyone outside the company information that is specific to what the company does. This chapter will discuss types of confidential or proprietary information, and why it is so important that it is not revealed to the public.
Innovation starts with an idea—your idea. You discover a problem to solve or a gap to fill. Sometimes it starts with a fleeting thought that keeps coming back, or it’s a tug that won’t let go. Then it starts waking you up at night or it just won’t let you sleep. Your idea demands attention. It wants to go places, and you decide that you’re the one to take it there. What if you also decide to treat that idea as a valuable business asset right from the beginning? That’s what intellectual property (IP) is all about.
What is intellectual property?
IP is all around us. The inventions and products that we use every day all had their beginnings as IP. IP is what you create, invent or develop as a result of your intellectual activity. IP is valuable, and just like other types of property you own, it comes with legal rights.
Why does intellectual property matter?
There is no monopoly on good ideas. People discover new things every day. As you develop your idea into something tangible—whether that means building your business or designing and creating a product to manufacture or sell—someone else might be doing the same thing. Protecting your creation helps protect your ability to reap the benefits of your hard work. Inventing something new is a process. You do research. You try things. Some work, some don’t. When you invent, you learn. And you create IP. Many businesses—both big and small—use their IP to introduce innovations to Canadians and bring new products into the marketplace. What if your “original creation of the mind” is next? Start giving your IP the attention it deserves.
Types of intellectual property
IP rights protect you as a creator. There are 4 main types of IP rights, and more than 1 might apply to your creation.
What if you wrote a song that is catching fire on Internet radio? You own the copyright to that work. Copyright means the sole right to produce or reproduce a work—or a substantial part of it—in any form.
Copyright Simply put, copyright means “the right to copy,” and copyright law prohibits others from copying specific types of works without your permission. Copyright is the exclusive legal right to produce, reproduce, publish or perform an original literary, artistic, dramatic or musical work, including computer software programs, sound recordings and communications signals. Regardless of their merit or commercial value, Canadian law considers all original creative works to be copyright material. Unlike with other IP righ