4 Tips To Protect Textile Innovations

Is innovation a key component of your business plan? Will you distinguish yourself with unique product offerings? Whether protecting our men and women in uniform, advancing the treatment of medical conditions, or adding to a more sustainable tomorrow, innovation fuels the growth of textile businesses.

In the U.S., innovation is part of the culture; the ideal of promoting innovation dates back to the writing of the U.S. Constitution, which set the groundwork for modern intellectual property (IP) laws. With a basic understanding of patents and the other available types of intellectual property protection, businesses can become better equipped to identify, protect and profit from their innovations.

Businesses have several types of "fences" to help protect their intellectual property, including patents, trade secrets, trademarks, trade dress rights, copyrights and contractual obligations. In the textile industry, a significant proportion of products reaching the market can be reverse engineered by the competition or a potential customer. This is a significant factor in protecting innovative products with patents instead of relying on alternative rights, such as trade secrets.

In exchange for disclosing an invention to the public, a patent grants a monopoly for up to 20 years against competitors making, using, selling or importing that invention. Patents, therefore, are often the preferred tool to protect new technology incorporated within new products. Further, trademarks can support a company's sales and marketing efforts with a first-to-market strategy, but will not prevent the competition from copying the underlying technology. There are important issues to consider when determining if and when to file for patent protection.

Resolve ownership early

A threshold question to obtaining patent rights is ownership. The following scenarios illustrate two ways that ownership questions can stall progress.

Scenario one: After months of joint effort, a yarn supplier and a knitter have arrived at a novel fabric they'd like to protect. Each thinks highly of their contributions as important to the success of the product. The companies agree that intellectual property has been created and patents should be filed, but whose IP is it?

Done right, IP rights would have been discussed and agreed upon before beginning collaborative efforts in discussions that can set the ground work for the needs and desires of each company. The supplier may not want to shoulder...

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