Protecting intellectual property: employment agreements are important to secure assets.

• Author: Schmal, Chuck
• Position: ADVICE: LAW

Imagine you have a salesperson who leaves your business on unfriendly terms. You later discover that person is contacting customers listed on your company's private customer list for a competitor. Unless they signed a proper employment agreement, you might not be able to stop them from using the list. Often, businesses discover too late that former employees were not required to transfer various forms of intellectual property to the business. While this might not always happen, you should consider whether your business wants to take this risk, especially when an inexpensive solution is available.

In today's world, intellectual property is becoming increasingly important for companies ranging from start-ups to large Fortune 500 companies. While not recognizing it, almost every business has some, if not a majority, of its value associated with intellectual property However, many businesses, especially non-high tech businesses, do not see the importance of protecting their company's intellectual property until it is too late.

You might ask, "What exactly is intellectual property?" One definition for intellectual property is something created by mental activity that you can own, but cannot physically touch. Just like tangible property rights give you the ability to prevent someone from robbing your home or stealing your car; similarly, intellectual property rights give you the ability to stop someone from stealing your business's good name, trademarks, customer lists, slogans, advertisements, designs, inventions, secrets, forms, and business plans, to name just a few examples.

Perhaps the best and most inexpensive thing a business can do to protect its intellectual property is to have employees sign properly drafted employment agreements. Employment agreements are the foundation for establishing the business's ownership of its intellectual...