Intellectual Property Protection For Your Mobile Apps

Posted On October 11, 2019October 11, 2019

In today’s rapidly transforming digital world, mobile apps are continuously evolving. While being a friend that carries almost every work related to our day to day life, mobile apps are something that has made us go ‘on-the-fly.’  Be it emailing, transferring money, or shopping online, mobile applications appear as one of the best ways of performing our daily basis tasks at the fastest possible speed. Moreover, developing mobile apps that attract noteworthy users involves minimal investment, sometimes limiting to as low as a few thousands. These are the reasons why businesses in large numbers are getting involved in developing mobile apps, and thus making the market more competitive than ever before. Undoubtedly, most of the developers keep the competition fair by coming up with their unique apps, but some never hesitate to make profits by copying the already existing ones. Hence, it is worth protecting your mobile apps against replication in the present marketplace where the cost of development might be low, but protection demands more than the complete creation. Let’s make ourselves familiar with some Intellectual Property (IP) tools using which you can prevent duplication of your mobile apps.

Patents

‘Whether mobile applications are patentable or not,’ has been a long due question for the past many years. Well, mobile applications are software interacting with various servers while running on hardware, and when it comes to examining Patent Applications related to mobile apps, every country has different criteria. Hence, we can conclude that there is no straight solution to whether you can get Patent Protection for your mobile application in a particular nation or not. For a precise and comprehensive answer, you should get in touch with an experienced Patent Attorney.

Nonetheless, in general, the technological ecosystem of mobile apps is a subject matter for patentability. For instance, a virtual keyboard, when introduced in mobile phones, for the first time was a patentable subject matter. Several front end elements in mobile applications can be patentable for their novelty, inventiveness, etc. Besides, the ways the mobile apps communicate with a server or other mobile devices may again list under a subject matter of patentability.

Trademarks

Every mobile application works in a step-by-step process. For instance, each mobile app first reaches the online platform, then gets downloaded by users on their devices, and then continuously used by the users. Be it during online promotions, downloading, or after downloading, the name and logo of the mobile application stay the crucial assets as these are what make the customers identify a particular app. Therefore, securing the name and logo as a Registered Trademark becomes remarkably significant. Trademark Registration will not only prevent others from infringing on your name or logo but also establish goodwill that would captivate the users to download and use your app. That’s why it is advisable to identify your app usage and marketing pattern, and thus, obtain specific Trademark Protection.

Copyright

Another form of protection for mobile apps is copyright. Since copyright allows protection of the original work of authorship for literary and creative works, it is beneficial for securing computing codes and presentation of your mobile apps during its workflow on different screens. Other features of mobile applications that can be considered artistic, and therefore, secured under Copyright Protection include images, videos, sound, etc.

In general, copyright comes into effect as soon as you create something new and unique, and there’s no necessity for copyright registration. However, filing a copyright application for protecting copyrightable aspects of your mobile app would be essential as it will help you in cases like Copyright Infringement. Copyright Registration proves to be an efficient tool for the original owner at the time he/she stands in front of the court. If you don’t bother to register your mobile application at the earliest, there are possibilities that you may lose your earnings and business in the hands of others.

Whether to file one combined application for multiple subject matters, including user interface, layouts, images, etc., or separate copyright for each is a noteworthy decision, and can vary from case to case as well as Copyright Law of different nations. Hence, you must always proceed under the supervision of IP experts.

Bottom Line

Mobile applications are a part of fast-moving technology that continuously changes and comes up with new aspects. Due to this, mobile apps that often appear just a part of businesses, at times, become the entire business itself. Ola, a cab service providing app and WhatsApp, an instant messaging app are the most common examples where the mobile application has turned into the whole business. That’s why you should always devise an appropriate Intellectual Property Protection strategy that lets you extract maximum profits from your mobile application without worrying about infringers. For more visit: https://www.kashishipr.com/ 

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