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First to Market? Here’s How to Stop Others From Copying Your Idea
In our previous blog, Protecting Your Creative Business Ideas Legally (https://sharongivoni.com.au/protecting-your-creative-business-ideas-legally-from-lego-to-logos/), we explored the concept that ideas alone cannot be protected under the law.
The point of this blog is that without taking strategic legal steps, even the most brilliant concepts are up for grabs. So if you have a great idea for a product or business, read on.
This insight is about helping you understand how to turn ideas into legally protected assets—through trade marks, registered designs, copyright, or even patents to gain a significant competitive edge.
But here’s something equally important that lawyers don’t talk about as much and that is that being first to market can be just as powerful as legal protection.
Some of the world’s most recognisable brands—like LEGO, Frisbee, and Rollerblades—couldn’t stop competitors from creating similar products. That, we know. Yet, they have dominated their industries by leveraging strong IP protection and other things like brand recognition. (Get tips on ensuring intellectual property compliance to avoid legal disputes here: https://sharongivoni.com.au/stay-legal-stay-safe-ip-compliance-for-importers/)
In this follow-up blog, we look into how to combine IP law with a first-to-market strategy.
Lets talk about ideas first
Let’s face it—ideas are slippery little things. You have a brilliant thought, you think it’s going to change the world, and then someone else seems to get there first.
But the hard truth is as we say time and time again that you can’t actually own an idea.
What you can do, however, is protect the tangible expressions of your ideas—the brand, the product design, the artwork, or the invention. That’s where intellectual property law (and, if you choose us, Sharon Givoni Consulting) comes in.
We specialise in helping businesses turn their ideas into legally protected assets.
First to Market and IP protection
Think about brands like Frisbee, Rollerblade, and LEGO—all of which set the standard in their industries before competitors came on board. Even though they couldn’t own the concept of a flying disc, inline skates, or plastic bricks, they locked in their market leadership with trade mark and design protection.
The lesson here is that speed and strategy matter and you need to get your legal rights secured as soon as possible.
Using trade mark registration to protect your brands
A trade mark is your business’s way of saying, This is mine.
It’s a signifier that tells consumers who you are and what you stand for.
In Australia, businesses can trade mark a wide range of elements to protect their brand identity and stand out in the market. These include logos, business names, and slogans, such as Nike’s “Just Do It,” as well as distinctive packaging designs like the Coca-Cola bottle shape.
Trademarking stops competitors from using confusingly similar names or logos, helping businesses protect their identity and stand out. It builds recognition and trust with customers, reinforcing brand loyalty, and can also be treated as a valuable asset that can be bought, sold, or licensed to generate revenue
Trade marks are powerful tools, but they don’t give you exclusive rights over an entire industry.
For example, you can’t register a generic term like “Fresh Juice” for a smoothie business. But something quirky, memorable, and distinctive like BOOST® JUICE? That’s where the real magic happens.
Registered Designs: Protecting the look of you product
If trade marks are about words and symbols, design protection is about visual impact. A registered design protects the look and feel of a product, but not how it works.
The unique shape of a product (like the Coca-Cola bottle or Weber barbecue) – even decorative elements, patterns, or textures applied to an object; furniture, clothes, or packaging with a distinct aesthetic.
Design protection prevents copycats from replicating your product’s appearance, creates a market advantage by giving you exclusive rights to a particular design and overall adds real value to your business.
Copyright
And then there is copyright and here the good news is that copyright protection happens automatically. The moment you create an original work and put it into a tangible form—whether it’s a painting, a book, a song, or even a website—it’s yours.
Think books, blogs, scripts, and advertising copy as well as logos and photographs.
Back to the theme we are talking about here, ideas alone are not covered.
Copyright gives you the right to control how your work is copied, distributed, or adapted, but it doesn’t stop people from being “inspired”.
Patents and inventions
Patents protect inventions that are novel, useful, and involve an inventive step.
Think new machines, gadgets, and medical devices or ground-breaking chemical formulas (such as Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine).
Or even business methods and software (like Amazon’s one-click ordering system).
The Catch is that patents are expensive and require a detailed application process.
They must be genuinely new—if your invention has already been made public, you can’t patent it.
Once granted, patents only last 20 years (after that, anyone can use the invention).
First to Market
Some people think of being first to market as an offensive strategy.
Companies that combine speed-to-market with legal protection often dominate their industries.
If you have a great business idea, secure trade marks and design rights early to safeguard them – that is how Rollerblade remains synonymous with inline skates despite cheaper alternatives and can protect itself: read more on our blog about this here: Use It or Lose It: Don’t Let Your Trade Mark Be Removed
Intellectual Property Protection is Power
You may not be able to protect an idea, but the purpose of this blog has been to give you one message and that is: You can safeguard the things that bring that idea to life. Hence our firms’ motto “Turn your ideas into assets”™
This can mean the difference between market success and someone else profiting from your hard work.
At Sharon Givoni Consulting, we help businesses navigate the legal side of creativity.
Want to protect what should be rightfully yours? Get in touch with us today.
Further Reading:
LivePlan: https://www.liveplan.com/blog/starting/protect-your-idea – This article discusses how to protect business ideas, emphasizing that while ideas themselves cannot be owned, their tangible expressions can be protected through various forms of intellectual property.
Wall Street Prep: https://www.wallstreetprep.com/knowledge/first-mover-advantage/ – This resource explains the concept of the first mover advantage, highlighting how being the first in a market can lead to strong brand recognition and market leadership.
Please note the above article is general in nature and does not constitute legal advice.
Please email us info@iplegal.com.au if you need legal advice about your brand or another legal matter in this area generally.