Without any second thoughts, advertising is as old as human civilization and commerce. In the present highly competitive environment, business owners and digital marketers attract their target audience with the help of brochures, TV and radio communications, email campaigns, banners, pop-ups, billboards, rich media advertisements, amongst many other advertising tools. Advertising has now become a medium for passing relevant, engaging, and unique information to potential customers and influencing their buying decisions positively. Moreover, a host of digital advertising techniques has created a lot of new opportunities for business firms and organizations to enhance their brand awareness and online visibility. In the creative process of advertising, Intellectual Property (IP) plays a crucial role, due to which, the business owners need to protect their exclusive Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) at all times.
While creating content for an advertisement or deploying an advertising campaign, there are usually one or more types of IP Rights that come into action, which are as follows:
It is imperative to make a point of the fact that unfair competition laws strictly prohibit unfair advertising methods, including the fake endorsement of brands, false advertising claims, fraudulent marketing or promotions, and deceptive packaging.
Companies nowadays are looking forward to finding better ways of advertising their brands. With every level of increased sophistication, there will be additional IP Rights involved. The most basic advertising campaign may only include a trademark or copyright corresponding to its logo; however, advanced audio-visual works lead to several complex IP issues.
It is a matter of fact that yes – creating and coming up with a successful advertising campaign requires a critical investment of time, money, and effort. Competitors and arch-rivals are likely to enjoy a free ride on an innovative company’s creativity, skills, and expertise. Therefore, all the business firms need to device appropriate IP strategies and use the legal tools at their disposal in the IP system for protecting their unique advertising creations.
Final Thoughts
The advertising industry revolves around creativity and innovation. With a plethora of technological advancements, the Internet today has facilitated the spread of brand new advertising methods. While being a powerful medium of influence, the advertising industry carries a potential for abuse and misuse as well. Therefore, every business owner must put in sincere efforts to understand the legal IP framework surrounding the advertising industry. A lack of caution can result in a company facing loss in its IP Rights or the liability of infringing upon the IP Rights on another person. Considering rigorous checks from the general legal and IP perspective before coming up with an advertising campaign can do wonders for every business and avoid costly mistakes.
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