Intellectual Property Issues in Advertising

Advertisements are common targets for infringement lawsuits. "If you are not cautious, you can lose your IP rights or be liable for infringement of the IP rights of others," writes Lien Verbauwhede in the January 2005 issue of WIPO's SME Newsletter. His article answers questions and provides some tips that can help businesses better protect their advertisements and its content, as well as avoid legal trouble, including

• What Types of Intellectual Property Rights may be Involved in Advertising?
• How to Protect your Creative Advertising?
• Can you use Material Owned by Others in your Advertising?
• Can you use Others’ Likeness in your Advertising?
• Can you Use a Competitor's Trademark in your Advertising?
• In an Advertisement, Should you Compare your Products and Services with those of Competitors?
• Can you Reveal a Competitor’s Confidential Information in Your Advertising?
• If you Pay an Agency to Create an Advertisement for Your Business, who Owns the Rights?
• What Other Legal Issues Should you Bear in Mind?

His conclusion? "As with any undertaking, prevention is better than cure. Before launching an advertising campaign, businesses should have it ‘cleared’ or approved, both from a general legal perspective and from an IP perspective."