How can Mobile apps development companies protect their trademark property?

In the present age of cut-throat competition, especially in the smartphone domain,

mobile apps developers need to be aware of legal concerns pertaining to trademarks,

intellectual properties (IP), copyrights, etc. There is immense demand for innovation in

smartphone market and there are considerable numbers of developers with quest to

satisfy a specific requirement first. In such a scenario, ideas can be stolen, developed

into a finished application and sold while the original thinker may not be able to claim

anything unless, of course, there is legal ground. Development firms and independent

developers can avoid fraud and cheat through registration of copyrights, geographical

indications, industrial design, patents and trademarks with respective authorities.

There are different authorities with which mobile application development companies

can register their IP. Some of the global or multinational-scale IP registration

organisations are:

World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO)

African Regional Intellectual Property Organisation (ARIPO)

Organisation Africaine de la Propriete Intellectuelle (OAPI)

Office for the Harmonisation of the Internal Market (OHIM)

Mobile applications are hardly restricted to a country or a region. So, these

organisations are suitable for registration of IP. Specific developers such as iPhone

apps developers should go through the guidelines provided by Apple pertaining to

registration and protection of IP. Certain clauses of vary from company to company and

Apple, Google and Microsoft may not have entirely the same guidelines. So, Android

apps developers need to go through the guidelines of Google rather than any general

article on the topic of IP protection.

Besides the international or global registration bodies, nearly every country has IP

registration authority. If any company has idea for an application that will be relevant to

only a specific region or country then the registering the IP with the national authority

is sufficient. However, the risk remains that other companies may copy the concept and

launch another application; thus, creating competition. However, mobile application

development companies can register with both an international and a national

organisation.

A sizeable e-book can be compiled on the IP registration procedure for different

organisations since they have different processes. It is extremely tough to condense the

registration procedures of different registration organisations into one general guide.

However, there are many things that are common for all organisations and there are

many tactics that every developer, be it iOS apps developers or else, should know.

Development companies can register as many attributes of their product as seems

necessary to them in order to prevent their products getting copied at any level. In case

of physical products, manufacturers even register shape, size, colour and/or weight of

the product. There obviously are limitations that cannot be overcome or overruled. The

case of Apple is exemplary of this. Steve Jobs, the then Head of Apple, had patented even

the gestures that its device can read. The vertical, lateral and diagonal slides are,

however, supported by all or most of the devices. Being the pioneer of smartphones,

Apple did try to evade competition but the users’ gesture and how different users use

their fingers could not be patented.