Intellectual assets, also known as intangible assets, include things like your business’s brand name, logo and URL. Intellectual assets also include original creative works (such as album cover artwork) or inventions (such as productivity and gaming software). Your closely held in-house processes, commonly referred to as trade secrets, are also considered intellectual assets. Your email marketing list, for example, is considered a trade secret, which makes it an intellectual asset.
You can protect your intellectual assets by registering them with the Government of Canada. Registration protects intellectual assets for certain numbers of years, which vary. For instance, Canada protects industrial designs for 10 years and copyrighted original creative works for life plus 50 after your death.