How to Protect Your Patents, Trademarks and Copyrights in Overseas Markets |  |
- How to Protect Your Patents, Trademarks and Copyrights in Overseas Markets
- SBA Chief Karen Mills Resigns: She Will Be Missed
- Your Content Marketing Versus Your Content Strategy
- Google Ecommerce Play: Search Giant Acquires Channel Intelligence
- Pinteresting Image Optimization Tips When Using Pinterest for Business
- What’s Hurting Small Business These Days?
- Surface vs. iPad: Pick the Best Business Tablet
| How to Protect Your Patents, Trademarks and Copyrights in Overseas Markets Posted: 11 Feb 2013 03:00 PM PST
Why? Industry estimates suggest that $250 billion is lost by businesses each year due to infringement of intellectual property (IP) rights in international markets. While copyright laws can provide protection in foreign markets, patents and trademark protection are often a matter of geography. Even if your invention, products and logo are protected under U.S. law, they aren't automatically afforded protection overseas. You'll need to register them in those international markets where you choose to expand your business. IP law can be confusing at the best of times, but here's what you need to know about protecting your intellectual property rights in these foreign markets, along with resources and tools that can help you. Determine If You Need to File for IP Protection Overseas Filing for protection may not be appropriate for every business. The circumstances for determining what type of IP protection is best for your business may be complicated and will differ for each individual business. Furthermore, international protection can be costly. Some issues to consider when making this decision are:
Factors to Consider When Planning Your Overseas IP Protection Strategy Many small businesses find it challenging to protect their IP rights abroad and are unaware of the processes to obtain and enforce their rights in foreign markets. Some basic, often low-cost steps small companies should consider include:
How to Register your Trademark, Patent or Copyright Abroad So how do you register your IP abroad? If you plan on selling, distributing or sourcing your products abroad, you should consider registering or filing with each country’s IP authorities. However, if you are seeking protection in many countries, you can take advantage of The Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), which has streamlined the process of filing patents in multiple countries. You can now file one patent application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and simultaneously seek protection in up to 144 countries. Likewise, if you want to get trademark protection in multiple countries, under the Madrid Protocol you can file for trademark registration in multiple countries. By filing one trademark registration application with USPTO, U.S. applicants can concurrently seek protection in up to 84 countries. In addition, the U.S. Department of Commerce has worked with the U.S. embassies in a number of countries to develop “IPR toolkits” which provide a wealth of detailed information on how to protect and enforce your IP rights in those specific markets. When it comes to copyright protection, although most countries do not require copyright registration in order to enjoy copyright protection, registration can offer several benefits, such as proof of ownership. The United States has copyright relations with most countries throughout the world, and as a result of these agreements, the copyrights of our respective citizens and businesses are honored. Take Advantage of Government Tools and Resources While you may be the first line of defense, the U.S. Department of Commerce, via the Stopfakes.gov website, does offer small businesses numerous tools and resources to educate themselves about their global IP rights and the process of registering for IP protection worldwide:
Have Questions? Check out these FAQs for business owners on Stopfakes.gov. Copyright Protection Photo via Shutterstock The post How to Protect Your Patents, Trademarks and Copyrights in Overseas Markets appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| SBA Chief Karen Mills Resigns: She Will Be Missed Posted: 11 Feb 2013 01:05 PM PST
Karen Mills, head of the U.S. Small Business Administration, announced her resignation today. As one of numerous appointees who are leaving in President Obama’s second term, her departure was not a surprise and in some ways was to be expected. Mills, a former venture capitalist, was unanimously confirmed as SBA head by the U.S. Senate back in early 2009. In a prepared statement she noted, “I will stay on until my successor is confirmed to ensure a smooth and seamless transition.” Mills’ position of SBA Administrator was elevated to a Cabinet level position in January of 2012. At the time, we praised that position being elevated and the elevation was generally approved by the small business community. Yet, an accompanying announcement was controversial: when announcing the Cabinet elevation, the President stated his desire to roll the Small Business Administration under the U.S. Commerce Department. Tucking the SBA under Commerce would likely dilute the focus on meeting the needs of America’s 28 million smaller sized businesses. Read: President Obama Elevates SBA Head to Cabinet, Sends Mixed Signals. To date the two agencies remain separate. At the time of her appointment in 2009, some (including the editorial team here at Small Business Trends) questioned whether Mills’ focus on venture capital gave her the right background for an agency charged with supporting mainstream small businesses that have neither the hope nor the desire to ever get venture funding. The world of venture funding is far removed from the day-to-day reality of the vast majority of small businesses. However, Mills turned out to be a good SBA chief. She reinforced the small business support mission of the SBA. In a speech in 2010 she articulated the mission of the SBA as the 3 Cs: Capital (SBA-guaranteed loans), Contracts (government contracts) and Counseling (educational outreach and disaster counseling). She upgraded the agency’s website and provided broader educational outreach to the small business community. In the important area of lending, under her leadership she kept SBA-guaranteed loans flowing. Her tenure included two record years of delivering over $30 billion annually in loan guarantees. Says Rohit Arora, CEO of online lending platform Biz2Credit, “The SBA is losing a valuable asset in Karen Mills. I have long maintained that the Small Business Administration is perhaps the most effective government agency in Washington. Having met with her last summer, I know that she has a passion for helping entrepreneurs succeed and SBA lending has thrived under her leadership. She will be missed.” What do you think — will Karen Mills be missed at the SBA? The post SBA Chief Karen Mills Resigns: She Will Be Missed appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| Your Content Marketing Versus Your Content Strategy Posted: 11 Feb 2013 11:00 AM PST
So, I started digging and I couldn't look anywhere without reading about content marketing and strategy. These buzzwords were everywhere and I knew I needed to implement them into my plans. But here's the kicker, what's the difference? Are these two phrases actually the same thing disguised in different wording? Here's my breakdown of what I've learned: Content StrategyDefined in a Forbes article as:
Strategy is how you are going to tackle the content and what that content is going to give you in return. It's the point where you ask yourself, “What is this piece going to give me in return? How do I get the most out of it?” Content MarketingDefined by Wikipedia as:
The marketing part of content is how you're going to push your content after it's on the Internet. This involves the tools, channels and techniques you are going to use to reach your audience. This is where you ask yourself, “How can I reach the most people with this piece of content? How will this piece of content impact my business?” The big question is, do we need both of these things? Do they not just overlap and cover the same basics? I've come to learn that both are equally as important and serve different roles. It is important to have a clear strategy for your content as well as a marketing plan. This way, you know exactly where your content is going, the impact it is having, how to get the most out of it, and how to use this content to benefit your business in the best way possible. Being organized is one of the oldest tricks in the book. So why would it be any different for your content? Quality Photo via Shutterstock The post Your Content Marketing Versus Your Content Strategy appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| Google Ecommerce Play: Search Giant Acquires Channel Intelligence Posted: 11 Feb 2013 09:00 AM PST
How good the acquisition will be for small merchants and consumers remains to be seen. One thing seems clear: this Google ecommerce play will likely help the search giant compete against Amazon and eBay in ecommerce. What Channel Intelligence DoesChannel Intelligence (CI) helps retailers sell their products online through various channels and services. Simultaneously, it tries to make it easier for consumers to find products they want to buy. Services offered by CI include "where to buy" buttons that sellers can include on their websites. Their services also help merchants to promote their products and get found on shopping search engines such as Google Shopping. CI and Google have already worked together for years, as CI was one of the original Google Shopping launch partners. Why the Acquisition is a Google Ecommerce PlayIf you, like Google, owned a shopping search engine, wouldn’t you want to discourage shoppers from going directly to competing ecommerce sites like Amazon and eBay — and encourage them to instead search Google? The more consumers who search Google Shopping and find what they want, the more valuable that shopping engine becomes. CI’s technology and know-how are a path to increase that value. With CI’s technology and services, Google Shopping will be in a position to provide more marketing and selling tools to businesses that use the platform. This will make Google Shopping more attractive to merchants. And that of course, means more revenue for Google. Google Shopping switched over to having exclusively paid listings in September 2012. So the only products featured on Google Shopping are those from merchants who pay for the privilege. Also, as Search Engine Land notes, it is likely that eventually CI’s services will be available only for Google Shopping, and not competing shopping engines. That could give Google Shopping an edge against its competitors. Net result: Google gets a bigger slice of the ecommerce pie. In a post on the company's blog, the CI team said that it will continue offering its services to clients. It doesn’t say clearly whether such services will be exclusive to Google Shopping or available for other competing search engines and shopping services. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of this year. ICG Group Inc. and Aweida Capital Management are currently the joint owners of Channel Intelligence. The company is based in Florida and has additional offices in Phoenix, London and Shanghai. The post Google Ecommerce Play: Search Giant Acquires Channel Intelligence appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| Pinteresting Image Optimization Tips When Using Pinterest for Business Posted: 11 Feb 2013 07:00 AM PST
We all know Pinterest can drive a lot of traffic; Therefore making sure your images will be pinned and (what’s more vital for this very article) re-pinned is well worth the effort. Make Images Clear and Easy to Read: SizePinterest grabs all your friend’s images together, resizes them into thumbnails and throws them to your friend stream. Whenever you login and go to your home page, you just scan through those images as you scroll. If there is anything blurry and unclear, you won’t probably waste your time on it. Therefore, make sure your image is readable when it’s 192 pixels wide. Compare:
Pinteresting Image tip: When optimizing your images for web publishing, do a quick exercise by resizing your image to 192 pixels and make sure it looks good. One point to add here: Of course, there’s no rule to fit all cases. I am pretty sure some blurry images are clicked because the user is just curious what’s there. However, clear image thumbnails are important if you care about your followers’ user experience and want more positive action on the image. Draw User’s Attention to Your Images: FacesWhenever your Pinterest friends go to their Pinterest homepage, all they see is the collection of images. One of these images is yours. Do you want to stand out? Many eye-tracking heatmap studies (including a Pinterest-specific one) will offer you a solution: a human face will draw the most attention. Pinteresting image tips: 1. Brand your business team faces: Create lots of team pictures and incorporate them into your blog and content strategy. This way, more and more faces will make it to your pinners’ streams (which may result in more re-pins and better branding):
2. If you create infographics, make sure they contain clear faces pointing your reader’s attention in the right direction:
Prompt Action: Pinteresting ColorsColor theory is not easy: There are a lot of “it depends” factors to keep in mind. Color preferences may depend on age, country, niche and even current mood of the viewer. But one color proves to work in most cases: orange. Orange has long been considered the most effective call-to-action color: Whenever you want a person to act (click, like, re-pin), try using orange. Pinteresting Image tip: Use these search by color tools to get orange inspired. There’s no need to make all your images orange, but it’s something worth testing.
Do you have any tips to make your pins stand out and increase their click-through and “viral” potential? The post Pinteresting Image Optimization Tips When Using Pinterest for Business appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| What’s Hurting Small Business These Days? Posted: 11 Feb 2013 05:00 AM PST
The results tell an interesting story. While many Americans are adversely affected by energy prices and health care costs, a higher fraction of small business owners feel that taxes and government regulations are hurting them. The Comparison is Admittedly Imperfect Gallup interviewed small business owners between January 7th and 11th and American adults between January 21st and 22nd. More importantly, small business owners were asked about whether different situations were hurting or helping "the operating environment” of their businesses, while people in general were asked whether the situations were hurting or helping their "finances." Nevertheless, the data provide insight into the ways that political and economic conditions affect small business owners and non owners. The two groups had statistically similar concerns about energy prices, with 79 percent of American adults and 77 percent of small business owners telling the interviewers that energy prices are a problem. (For both the surveys, the margin of error is +/- 4 percentage points.) Health care costs are also hurting both groups, with 73 percent of small business owners and 68 percent of American adults reporting this to the surveyors. And both groups assessed the impact of the federal government's debt ceiling similarly, with 56 percent of adults and 63 percent of small business owners saying it was harmful. The two groups had similar views about the effect of federal spending cuts, though fewer members of both groups saw these as harmful: 46 percent of American adults and 40 percent of small business owners. The small business owners differed from the overall sample in how much taxes, government regulation, credit, and immigration policies hurt. While 69 percent of American adults said that taxes were hurting their personal finances, 80 percent of small business owners said that taxes were hurting the "operating environment" of their companies. Similarly, 72 percent of small business owners said that government regulations were a problem, while only 48 percent of American adults said so. Fewer small business owners thought that immigration policies were harmful than American adults (38 percent to 25 percent). By contrast, 47 percent of small business owners felt credit availability was was a problem, as compared with 30 percent of American adults. While the surveys don’t tell us whether small business owners think differently from other Americans or whether the situations affect small business operations more than personal finances, the differences are intriguing. Taxes and regulation are problematic for a larger fraction of small business owners than Americans overall. The post What’s Hurting Small Business These Days? appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| Surface vs. iPad: Pick the Best Business Tablet Posted: 11 Feb 2013 02:30 AM PST You know the importance of a business tablet as your company becomes more mobile, but the question persists: Which tablet will give you the best performance for your investment? A recent survey of information workers gives an answer you might not expect. Best Business Tablet May Surprise YouOut of 9,766 information workers surveyed worldwide in Forrester Research’s annual Mobile Workforce Adoption Trends, 32% said they would prefer a Microsoft Surface Pro tablet while 26% said they would prefer an iPad. Just 12% showed interest in an Android tablet. Launched Feb. 9, Microsoft’s Surface Pro has met with lack luster response, but several aspects of the new mobile tablet might explain its appeal and why small business owners might also want to give these devices a second look. First, the Surface Pro includes Microsoft Office software, long the standard in business. This makes it appealing to companies large and small. Second, Apple has a reputation for doling out its innovations incrementally. This could be bad news for companies seeking a business tablet as a good investment for long term use. As Shwetika Baijal observes in PolicyMic, Apple didn’t include a front-facing camera in the first iPad in 2010, although the company included the camera feature on its iPhone 4 released just two months later. Baijal suggests Apple made the conscious decision to withhold the feature from the first iPad even though the company likely already possessed the capability. She suggests the decision is part of a business strategy intended to keep prices and demand high for each new model. Business Tablet Race Heats UpWhile the recent survey suggests the Surface Pro may be more in demand with enterprise users and so perhaps an investment to think about for small business owners too, challenges remain. Mary Jo Foley of ZDNet reports Microsoft failed to take orders for the new device ahead of time and in some cases sent insufficient numbers to retailers to meet demand. Baijal says other obstacles are the Surface’s lack of apps, about 10,000 compared to the iPad’s 300,000+, and the unfamiliarity of the new Windows 8 operating system. In a review in The Wall Street Journal, Walt Mossberg calls the Surface Pro heavy and expensive. (It weighs two pounds and starts at $899.) But Mossberg also points to another feature that may appeal to business users. The Surface Pro is able to operate like a conventional laptop, even though it is considerably more portable. But it also runs Microsoft’s new touchscreen tablet interface, making it a hybrid of both devices and a versatile choice for a business tablet. The post Surface vs. iPad: Pick the Best Business Tablet appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
Are you thinking of taking your business global this year? Whether you are a service-based business or hoping to export your products, it's critical that you take steps to protect your trademarks, copyrights and patents overseas.
Last year, I was hired to run a startup website about women in business. My job was to grow social media, traffic and upscale the quality of content.
Google recently announced it is acquiring 
With the fast-growing popularity of Pinterest, marketers have another challenge to deal with: Visual dashboard optimization. Pinterest users scan through their friends’ streams for “pinteresting” items and 90% of the information they go through is visual.
In separate January surveys, Gallup’s pollsters asked samples of American small business owners and adults how different political and economic situations were affecting them.| You are subscribed to email updates from Small Business Trends To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
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