Social media has become an integral part of everything we do and operate these days. Right from creating original content pieces to producing them, it is a mandate to protect your assets with certain intellectual property rights. Among different intellectual property types, every business or brand should implement best practices to avoid unnecessary intellectual property risks. Guiding an array of brands and creators from different walks of life, Ana Juneja is one of the most sought-after IP lawyers.
Currently based in the USA, she has roots in Bhopal, India. Brought up in Chicago, Illinois, Ana was initially interested in pursuing a career in science. However, her curiosity to learn law saw her become a lawyer after she passed out the Illinois Bar Exam in Chicago in February 2018. The attorney formerly worked with Dennemeyer & Associates for three years, after which she started her trademark law firm Ana Law LLC which has a clientele across 50 states in the US.
The prolific lawyer focuses on safeguarding the IP rights of clients on social media, NFTs, cryptocurrency and Web3. According to her, the most common IP on social media is Copyrights. “Copyright protections apply to original works of authorship, which can be in written text like e-mails, blogs or content like audio, written, and video”, reveals Ana. She further reveals that the best practice for copyrights in the digital space is to secure registrations and to have contracts before using others’ work on the internet.
In addition, knowing the use policies for different social media platforms is also significant to know before using other entities’ work on your platform. Another important social media IP as per Juneja are trademarks. The trademark of any brand or business represents the association and goodwill that adds value to its owner. As per Ana, one tip for use of trademarks on social media is to ensure that the marks of other brands are not identical or look confusingly similar. She further stated that securing your brand rights comes with many benefits, including being able to license your brand to others for use.
Lastly, a trade secret is another IP right where confidential information about the company should not be known to the general public. Ana states that trade secrets give economic benefits to their owner where they can maintain secrecy. Some common types of trade secrets include customer lists, machine operation instructions and the lists of procedures to perform any services.
Giving a piece of advice on how to keep trade secrets a secret in the age of social media, Ana says, “Companies can have a set of internal policies giving employees an understanding of what they can post on social media related to their work.” These little things go a long way, and it is perhaps a small step in protecting intellectual property rights in the digital domain.