Frequently asked questions
Protecting and managing intellectual property

Can a technical innovation be kept secret?

You may prefer to keep an innovation secret, but you won't have any exclusive rights. For example, secrecy may be decided for a manufacturing process not easily identifiable by reverse engineering. On the other hand, if the innovation concerns an easily identifiable product or process, your competitors will be able to copy your innovation, thereby depriving you of any technological advantage. Secret know-how does, however, give you protection in the event of misappropriation of this information by a third party.

Can software be protected by IP?

Copyright provides protection for "software, including preparatory design material". What is protected is the writing of the software, not the functionalities, algorithms or programming methods.

Software is...