Asserting Copyright Over Your Work
It is important that creative ideas are protected and start ups should consider this from the outset. Here at HUGO, we are really proud of everything we have created. We are often complemented on our app, in particular its graphics, content, user interface and user experience, all of which are a massive differentiator for us in a marketplace full of poorly created and laid-out apps and platforms.
Given the unique nature of our app and its value to our business, we have from the outset worked closely with world leading copyright lawyers Brandsmiths. Due to the level of originality in the features utilised in our app, we have been able to create a substantial level of protection against copying.
Our app and all of the designs and graphics relating to it were all developed by either employees of HUGO or external developers who assigned to HUGO all IP rights created in the course of their work for us.
The law of copyright protects a number of categories of work, provided that the work is of sufficient originality to qualify for copyright protection. Everything created for the HUGO app is an original intellectual expression of the creators’ free and creative choices, and is a unique and original work for the purposes of copyright. So it is important that such processes are protected.
The HUGO app incorporates multiple different works, all of which qualify for copyright protection due to their originality. The code itself and the written content on the app qualify as literary works.
In addition to the individual graphics, we exercised a large degree of creativity and thought in deciding upon and designing the layout of the graphics, as well as the individual screens and graphical user interface of the HUGO app. As a result of the large degree of creativity exercise, all of these elements also qualify for copyright protection as artistic works.
All of the above works are recorded within the code of the HUGO app itself, but are also recorded separately in detailed and comprehensive date-stamped design documents and drawings, such as FIGMA, SLACK and ZENDESK. Entrepreneurs and business owners should keep all this material to ensure that they can demonstrate ownership of all of these elements as this is an important part of the copyright process.
As a result of the copyright that subsists in all of these elements (individually and collectively) it gives us the right to prevent any person from copying them or communicating them to the public without our permission. Due to the scope of copyright law, this means that we can prevent not only direct copies but also copies of a substantial part of the work in question. This creates an extremely wide and comprehensive level of protection across the HUGO ENERGY APP.
When it comes to creating and enforcing these rights, we would highly recommend, Brandsmiths, as they have a great track record of shutting down competitors that infringe their client’s rights.
So remember to assert your copyright!
