In addition to searching the assets of another company, you can utilize this valuable service to keep abreast of changes in the market place or to enforce your intellectual property rights. Intellectual Property Businesses protect their products, ideas, reputation or brand names by obtaining patents, copyrights, and trademarks. Intellectual Property rights, or IP, are valuable assets to any business or individual because they ensure that a product or name cannot be legally mimicked or copied. This type of access is valuable to those seeking to search the assets of another entity, apply for intellectual property protection, or protect the works they already created. Search this topic Read the SmartGuide on this topic International Patent Filings Since United States patent laws have no effect in other countries, an international patent is necessary when a business wants to avoid legal conflict and protect an invention overseas.
Most foreign states have their own patent laws.
Patents are intellectual property and anyone trying to get a patent in a foreign country must follow that nation's laws or a relevant multinational treaty. Everybody, from the seasoned executive to the novice entrepreneur, knows that hiring a lawyer can be very expensive. In the old days, there was only one way to obtain legal information - call your lawyer. With the Internet, access to legal information is more available to the general public. A service mark similarly distinguishes the services of one provider from the services of others.