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I’ve created an app,…now what?
You’ve just created an app for use on mobile devices and don’t know what your next step should be? This is very common for anyone who creates new works for potential client groups. Your creation is unique and you believe in its success, so you will want to protect it against any unwanted use. In fact, you’ll want to use it only for the purpose it’s been created for.
BIP (Bureau for Intellectual Property of Curaçao) helps protect the creations that originate from the human mind, also referred to as intellectual property. The areas of the intellectual property rights consist, among others, of Copyrights for the protection of literary, artistic or scientific work. Trademark rights, for the protection of distinctive signs for goods and services and Patent right, for the protection of inventions.
Now, to answer your question about your new creation of an app for mobile devices, you most likely need to consider the following steps where intellectual property protection is concerned:
- We advise the use of an i-Envelope. The i-Envelope provides a means to prove the date of creation of several forms of intellectual property and it may help you to stop the possible infringement of your creation. It costs Nafl. 200,- for a period of 5 years and Nafl. 250,- for a period of 10 years. More info: https://www.bip.cw/our-services/i-envelope/
- Has your idea for the app taken form? Once the idea for an app has taken form the work can become eligible for Copyright. Copyright comes in to existence automatically from the moment the work (such as an app) is created, without any required formalities for registration. Though no action is required, it is still advisable to take some precautions in order to be able to prove a work has been created by you. A possibility to have a means to prove the date of creation of the work protected by copyright is the abovementioned i-Envelope. Read more about copyright here: https://www.bip.cw/our-services/copyright/
- Register to get Trademark protection. A trademark distinguishes products or services from similar products or services of a competitor. Among other possibilities the name of the app, can be eligible for trademark protection. To solicit registration of a trademark it is required to complete a standard form which can be found on our website here: https://www.bip.cw/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Depot.pdf or at our office in four languages. An individual trademark registration costs Nafl. 750,- and gives protection for 10 years, with the possibility of renewal. This registration includes up to 3 classes of the international classification in which the products and services are categorized. More info: https://www.bip.cw/our-services/trademark/
Do you have any other questions in the field of intellectual property? Feel free to contact us.
