Entrepreneurs – Here is Why Mere Ideas Cannot Be Protected by Intellectual Property Rights

I have heard the complaints of ideas being stolen multiple times from many entrepreneurs and aspiring entrepreneurs since 2012 in my role as the head of the first business incubation centre in Bhutan and the same lament continues even to this day. So, today, as I got some free time, I wanted to write this article to clear up this confusion once and for all, based on the things I learnt from the various trainings I have attended on Intellectual Property in Bhutan and abroad, thanks to the Intellectual Property Department of Bhutan, World Intellectual Property Organisation and Swedish Patent Office, Stockholm. 

Intellectual Property refers to the ‘creations of the mind’ such as works of art, trademarks, invention or innovation. For instance, works of art such as a movie, photograph, painting, book, a piece of writing, or even a piece of software (program) that you have written are usually protected by Copyright. Innovations or inventions could be protected by Industrial Design, Utility Model or a Patent. A company’s product or service may be identified by a unique Trademark.

Intellectual property rights such as Copyright, Trademark, Industrial Design or Patent give you full ownership over such creations of your mind just like you would own a tangible product that you have purchased or made yourself. That way, an intellectual property is the same as a physical property that you own. You have the same rights of ownership. That means, if someone tries to use the creations over which you have intellectual property rights without your permission, it is outright stealing and they can be charged for theft of the same.

Now having understood what Intellectual Property right is, do you think your business ideas should be protected under intellectual property rights? A mere business idea or any idea for that matter cannot be protected under the Intellectual Property rights in any country in the world. The following are the reasons for this:

a.      Someone cannot claim that he or she is the only person who has thought of a particular idea. It often happens that the same idea is thought of by many people at around the same time or earlier. Hence, the belief that a particular idea is only yours own is not truly correct. To allow a single person or company to claim ownership of a mere idea is to deprive all others who had the same idea to take the practical steps to turn those ideas into reality. IP rights are meant to provide fair and equal opportunity. By the same token, a single company cannot claim trademark rights to a generic term as “that would impoverish the language and unfairly hamper competition”.

b.      Mere ideas have no inherent value, unless steps have been taken to materialize the idea with inventive steps or designs. As they say, ideas are dime a dozen. Execution is the key. You never know if your ideas will actually work until it is executed.

Having said this, there may be instances where there is a need to protect your idea from your competitors. Under that scenario, the choice is to either keep the ideas totally secret or try to protect it through a Non-disclosure Agreement (NDA), Non-compete Agreement or Trade Secret. NDA is normally signed with your business partners or collaborators while Non-compete Agreement may be signed with your employees to prevent them from becoming your competitors after learning all about your business. Information that can be kept as a trade secret includes formulas, patterns, compilations, programs, devices, methods, techniques, or processes. KFC’s original recipe and Coca Cola’s formula are good examples of Trade Secrets.

For more information on this subject, this article titled “Protecting an Idea: Can Ideas Be Patented or Protected? “ at ipwatch.com is a good one. And for learning about Intellectual Property in general, the best place is the WIPO Website (https://www.wipo.int/portal/en/index.html ). For IP law and IP Protection in Bhutan, please refer to the website of the Department of Intellectual Property at ipbhutan.gov.bt