In a recent blog post, Seth Godin seems to question whether trademarks, copyrights, and patents have value. He begins with the question “If we’re in the idea business, how to protect those ideas?” and ends with “Don’t.” Instead, he recommends, “spread them. Build a reputation as someone who creates great ideas.” Along the way, he attacks the trifecta of trademarks, copyrights, and patents.
This is Terrible Advice
No Fortune 500 companies are going to read Seth Godin’s blog, see the light, and decide that those cease & desist letters really were not worth it after all, and maybe they should stop sending them out. To the extent that Godin’s readership consists of people who actually might seek intellectual property (IP) protection, I imagine they are primarily entrepreneurs and small business owners. Godin’s article will encourage them not to seek out such protection.
These people do not need anyone to convince them NOT to protect their IP. Not protecting your IP is easy-just don’t do anything! Lots of people do that because they are not aware of the importance IP can have to the success of their business. Not protecting your IP because Coca-Cola or MGM is sending out 10 cease and desist letters today is a mistake of monumental proportions and it is irresponsible to encourage entrepreneurs to make that mistake.
What Entrepreneurs Need to Know About IP Protection
Entrepreneurs need to know up front what IP protections are available and what their costs and benefits are. And there are benefits- potentially enormous benefits. Recent estimates place the total value of patents in the U.S. at $200 Billion. Brand value (integrally tied to trademarks) makes up a third of the total value of fortune 500 companies (that’s well over $1 trillion folks).
Registering a trademark is not about suing everyone who says the words “thank you”, it is about protecting your brand from competitors and avoiding costly legal conflicts. Patenting an invention allows you to lock your competitors out of the marketplace for a period of 20 years, and if you can get a patent for a valuable invention you came up with in the shower, more power to you.
An initial patent search and provisional application are essential to any entrepreneur planning to start a business around an innovative new product. They cost a lot less than “tens of thousands of dollars” (try ~$2,000) and without them potential investors and partners will not even talk to you. Without a search, you do not even know if your invention has any value. These protections are just part of the cost of entering that kind of business, and they are far from the largest cost involved (try prototyping or manufacturing an initial run).
So don’t dismiss IP protection out of hand. Figure out the costs involved and the likely benefits and do a cost/benefit analysis.
Should I Spread My “Ideas” Around as Godin Suggests?
Not if they have value to you. If, considering the risks involved, the cost of trying to protect your idea is greater than its benefit to you, then sure you should find something else to do with it. Maybe, as Godin suggests, telling everyone about it will build your reputation and be beneficial to you.
But for a company to spread its brand around freely or spread its new, heavily researched product around to its competitors in order to “Build a reputation as someone who creates great ideas” would be destroying enormous value- and insane. In this digital age, IP protection matters more than ever.
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