Call Us Now
Email Us Now
Many business owners, in any industry, don’t realize just how much of their operation is built on their own intellectual property. Businesses in the cigar industry are no different. In fact, IP in the cigar industry is in many cases more significant than in other fields. Your copyrights, trademarks, patents, and trade secrets are the keys to your success — and need to be protected. Here’s how.
Register Intellectual Property
Some forms of intellectual property don’t have to be registered for legal protection, but for most IP, registration provides many benefits. Registering a trademark or copyright belonging to your cigar business makes it easier for your business to file a lawsuit if either is infringed, for instance. Patents — for your processes, blends, and devices — do have to be registered (usually with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office) for legal recognition and enforcement.
The cigar industry as a whole is a broad arena when it comes to IP, and different kinds of businesses will have different properties to protect:
- A tobacco farm may want to obtain patent protection for a new type of tobacco plant or harvesting tool invention.
- A cigar manufacturer might wish to register a brand or trade dress for its packaging or a patent for a new cigar rolling machine.
- A cigar distributor or retailer may have a trademark they want to protect that they use in advertising.
Create Business Contracts
Some forms of IP can’t be registered. Trade secrets are a great example of this because their protection comes from their secrecy, not because there’s the threat of legal action for infringement. If you’re a cigar manufacturer with a list of secret ingredients that offer a one-of-a-kind flavor for your cigars, you might choose to protect this competitive advantage by keeping it a secret.
Swearing the key people involved in producing this blend to secrecy isn’t foolproof, however. Having them sign a confidentiality agreement can help keep your proprietary information in-house.
Enforce Intellectual Property Rights
Your cigar business needs to be ready to take legal action if there’s an infringement of its IP. Failure to protect your cigar business’ IP now could make it harder to protect it down the road.
If you wait a long time to sue someone infringing on your patent, this delay could support their potential defense that you’ve abandoned your patent. Failure to enforce your IP rights might also embolden future infringers who think you won’t take legal action to stop them if they steal your IP.
Protecting intellectual property is important to ensure the continued success of your cigar business. Call Venerable Law at 813-680-4530 discuss your options and maintain your competitive advantage.
