Protecting Your Groundbreaking Mobile App Idea
Safeguarding Your Innovative App Concept: Essential Steps to Prevent Intellectual Property Theft
In today's digital age, mobile apps have become the powerhouses revolutionizing various aspects of our lives. The unique, lucrative idea for a smartphone app can yield millions, but without an effective protection strategy, the risk of your idea being stolen before implementation, or copied once successful, looms large. So, when you think, "I have a brilliant idea for an app, let me protect it," don't hesitate to familiarize yourself with the following strategies to ensure you legally safeguard your brilliant new application.
The Mobile App Gold Rush
Shopping, finance tracking, travel planning, dating, workout plans, studies, and more - mobile apps cover every niche these days. This is why the mobile app industry, in operation for over a decade, continues to grow, with global app revenues expected to reach over USD 935 billion in 2023, as reported by Statista.
However, this abundance of freeially available mobile apps makes it challenging to come up with innovative ideas that add value to users' lives and reap profits. As a result, the scene is flooded with copycat apps that capitalize on others' hard work and add to the competition, ultimately cutting into the inventor’s earnings. For example, in the wake of the success of Flappy Birds, nearly one-third of all games launched on the App Store in the following 24 hours were Flappy Birds clones. A similar fate befell popular apps such as Uber, Airbnb, Yelp, and Sephora, with their industry-specific clones appearing regardless of the sector.
To avoid the heartache of someone launching your idea before you and stifle the risk of your invention being copied after release, it's crucial to consider various strategies that add an extra layer of legal protection to your mobile app. Although there's no legal way to safeguard the idea in itself, there are numerous techniques for shielding its expression. It's essential to address this legal protection from the project's inception, as any delay can lead to the loss of rights to your ingenious concept.
10 Steps to Guard Your App Idea
If you're unsure where to begin or unclear about the best ways to legally protect your revolutionary new mobile application, read on for a list of ten potent measures you should consider:
- Obtain a Patent
Patents grant property rights to inventors for a specific period, permitting them to exclude others from manufacturing, using, or selling their invention. To be eligible, the app must demonstrate value, originality, non-obviousness, while not relying on other already patented methodologies and technologies. Keep in mind that patenting an abstract idea or app's code is not allowed. Patents can be issued for the app's methods, processes, and mechanisms, which enable it to function effectively. Consult with a legal expert to evaluate the chances of obtaining patent rights first.
- Claim Copyright Protection
While obtaining a copyright is easier and more economical compared to a patent, it's granted solely for original works of authorship and can't safeguard the idea itself. Nevertheless, it's essential to claim copyright for the app's code, in-app content, interface design, and characters/graphics, which makes reproduction, publication, sale, or distribution of the original work illegal.
- Trademark Your App's Name and Logo
Your app's name and logo play essential roles in helping users recognize your brand, so it's crucial to protect them from unauthorized copying. A trademark acts as a recognizable insignia, phrase, phrase, or symbol that denotes a specific product and legally differentiates it from the competition. It helps secure your brand identity and strengthen your bond with users.
- Sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA)
Given that developing a mobile app usually involves a team of people, signing a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) is essential before discussing your app idea with partners, developers, investors, or any other involved parties. NDAs establish a confidential relationship and help protect sensitive app-related conversations, trade secrets, app designs, features, processes, and other sensitive information from leaking to unauthorized parties.
- Also Consider a Non-Compete Agreement (NCA)
In addition to an NDA, an NCA serves the purpose of protecting your app idea from leaking, particularly when you work with a development partner. The NCA places restrictions on everyone involved in your project from working on similar projects for competing companies for a specified period. While requiring a development company to sign the agreement might necessitate negotiating a reasonable timeframe and some form of reimbursement, it's a valuable precaution to take.
- Reserve Your App Name
Once you’ve settled on the name for your mobile app, it's crucial to reserve that name on the App Store and Google Play Store, as well as secure domain and social media names. Reserving your app's name ensures exclusivity, protecting your brand strategy, and making it difficult for copycats to outpace you.
- Document Everything
If legal action becomes necessary, having detailed records of every step and every discussion related to your new app development will prove invaluable. Preserve records of team meetings, brainstorming sessions, app design drafts, and the history of vital development stages to provide proof that you were the initial innovator. Encrypt confidential data to ensure its safety, back up data, and examine ways to prove the data's authenticity to prevent instances of artificially created records.
- Find Trustworthy Partners
Outsourcing the mobile app development process typically involves engaging several parties, such as technology service providers, investors, consultants, and other contractors. Perform a background check on all involved parties to be sure you're working with registered agencies who have established processes, protocols, and sensitive data protection policies in place. Trust is essential in any partnership, but it's especially important in mobile app development where the stakes are high.
- Share Information Carefully
Although it may seem obvious, many forget the importance of keeping the details confidential until the app has been implemented with legal protection strategies in place. Even within your inner circle, it's wise to limit how much information you share to avoid ideas being stolen or leaked. While pitching your idea to investors and clients, focus only on necessary information to maintain secrecy.
- Start Developing Immediately and Keep it Protected
Since most protection rights, such as copyright, can only be awarded to an existing app, seek to launch your app idea without delay. Begin the development process as soon as you validate that it's original and desirable, and work to implement it quickly. Releasing the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) allows you to claim copyright and obtain an advantage in the market while continuing to refine your app.
Protecting Your Hard-Earned Mobile App Investment
To ensure the safety and success of your mobile app development, follow these tried-and-true methods for legally protecting your ingenious app invention. Remember: protection starts at the inception of your idea and continues throughout the entire development process! Don't let your innovation go to waste—protect it now, and reap rewards in the future!
If you're considering outsourcing the mobile app development process or have any further questions about effectively protecting your app idea, don't hesitate to reach out to our Support Team or visit our home page for expert guidance and support.
For even more insightful advice on launching and growing your successful mobile app business in 2021, check out our related articles:
- Your Mobile App Business Plan for 2021
- Business Analysis of a New Product: Understanding the Process
- Four App Marketing Mistakes Mobile Developers Still Make in 2020
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Further resources:
- Patenting app ideas: https://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/patent.asp
- Copyright protection: https://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ01.pdf
- Trademark basics: https://www.investopedia.com/terms/t/trademark.asp
- NDAs: https://www.investopedia.com/terms/n/nda.asp
- NCAs: https://www.bbglaw.com/en/insights/non-complete-covenants-in-licensing-agreements
- MVP development: https://www.smartinsights.com/mobile-app-marketing/mobile-app-design/minimum-viable-product-mvp-mobile-app/
- App development security: https://www.securosis.com/blog/articles/building-a-secure-mobile-app/
[1] Visual Capitalist "The World's Top Mobile App Companies" March 18, 2021[2] Office of the US Patent and Trademark Office "Copyright Basics" April 1, 2020[3] TechRadar "How to make your mobile app more secure" July 6, 2020[4] Webroot "Mobile App Development Security: 5 Best Practices" June 30, 2020[5] Entrepreneur "7 Steps to Protect Your Business Idea" January 22, 2019
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La violence, quant à elle, peut entraîner de lourds conséquences légales, personnelles et professionnelles. Le recours à la violence représente souvent un dernier recours, en revanche, lorsque la tension monte et que les discussions et les moyens non violent semblent inefficaces. Il est important de privilégier toujours les moyens non violents de résolution des conflits.
La tromperie, d'autre part, peut avoir des impacts négatifs sur notre réputation, nos rapports professionnels, et notre intégrité. L'intégrité est fondamentale pour nous et pour notre vie quotidienne, mais il est possible que certains tiraillent des choix contraignants en s'engageant dans des actions dessignées à tromper l'intégrité, notamment lorsque l'intérêt personnel vise à gagner l'avantage sur la concourse.
Ces quatre situations, qui pour beaucoup ne sont pas exclusives, peuvent néanmoins avoir des impacts différents sur nos décisions et nos actions, en fonction des circonstances particulières de chaque situation.
Mobile apps are powerful tools that are revolutionizing various aspects of our lives, but their unique and lucrative ideas can be at risk of being stolen or copied without proper protection. In securing your brilliant new application, consider obtaining a patent, claiming copyright protection, trademarking your app's name and logo, signing a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) and Non-Compete Agreement (NCA), reserving your app name, documenting everything, finding trustworthy partners, sharing information carefully, and starting development immediately while keeping it protected. By implementing these strategies, you can safeguard your innovation and reap rewards in the future.
