Protecting and Exploiting Your New Mobile App

Copyright is perhaps the most obvious intellectual property right in the context of an app. The clue is in the name and copyright works to protect your app from being copied by someone else. Copyright does not protect the underlying idea behind the app but protects those elements which are original literary, musical or artistic in nature. Examples might include the app graphical user interface, text used on the app, and brand logos.

Copyright protection is not registrable, and it arises automatically. It is therefore essential to keep proper records of all of the elements of the app which might be protected by copyright.

A trademark is a unique identifying mark, such as a logo or trading style for example, which differentiates a brand in the eyes of consumers and prevents others from copying and exploiting the goodwill in the brand. Virtually all everyday brands are trademark protected, and high-profile examples include Vodafone, Apple, Facebook and so on.

Trademarks are registrable rights and can apply to just the UK or much wider territories depending on the anticipated market for the app.

Trade secrets are confidential information about your business or products which create your unique selling point to consumers. Examples include the recipes for Pepsi, or the flavouring applied to KFC fast food which are both closely guarded secrets.

To qualify for trade secret protection, the information must be just that, secret and confidential. In the context of an app this means only disclosing the underlying app information on a strictly need to know basis and with robust confidentiality agreements in place. An example of such information includes the source code needed for the app to work.

Trade secrets are not registrable, but it is essential that you can show that you have taken all necessary steps to protect the secrecy of the information by having formal and regularly reviewed confidentiality policies in place, for example.

Just as important as the intellectual property itself is ensuring that it is you who actually owns it. In general terms, if intellectual property rights are created by an employee in the course of their employment, then the rights are owned by the employer. However, it is common for apps to be created by third party developers and in this case the rights are owned by the developer unless steps are taken to prevent this. Therefore, if a third-party developer is used, it is essential that they assign all rights in the app to you as part of their terms of engagement. This very simple step is often overlooked, and its absence can lead to future ownership disputes, particularly if the app goes on to be a popular and valuable asset.

This can be done in various ways such as charging users a one-off fee or a recurring subscription or providing the app for free and generating revenue from in-app advertising for example. Whichever method is chosen, it is important to have all of the necessary agreements in place including with the operator of the platform where the app can be downloaded (Apple App Store or Google Play Store for example), app developers and in-app advertisers.