Protecting your name, ideas and material

If you are starting a new community organisation, you may have just chosen a name for your organisation, set up a website, and ordered some promotional material. And now you are keen to concentrate on getting down to the important work that your organisation plans to do.  

However, stop for a moment and think about the future. Your organisation will build up a reputation with the name you have chosen. People will start to recognise your logo. You may develop publications or training sessions from which your not-for-profit group can raise funds to invest back in to your organisation.

Your organisation’s intellectual property is what differentiates you from other organisations. It is important, valuable and worth protecting. Your organisation’s intellectual property includes the rights it may have in its:

• name
• logo
• the names or logos of any programs or services developed by your organisation
• publications
• training materials
• website design and content
• domain name
• computer applications, programs, or databases it has developed, and
• any ideas, innovations and inventions.

The Guide below is designed to assist people involved in Victorian not-for-profit organisations to understand the basics of intellectual property law.