How to protect intellectual property (device on ATmega)?

Question

Business Informatics

Hello! So, I created a device that I want to sell and sell (I did not create a legal entity). But one buyer decided to copy the device and sell it himself. How can you protect your small business from such people? Does copyright apply or does it need to be registered? Or do you need a patent? Or perhaps you should register an IP?
I am not well versed in legal matters, so I ask for help.

Answer 1

Registration entities, then patents and trademark.
And only in this case, you can finally go to court and sue the one who copied. If you win the court, he will forbid the manufacture of these devices and, if you are lucky, he will also recover something like lost profits from him.
In any case, contact a lawyer, it's all terribly difficult. And remember that you are in Russia, where even with all the necessary papers, you can still end up losing the court.

Answer 2

Above correctly advised the legal entity, trademark, patent. There are nuances. A patent is a long and not always successful thing, because you need to prove the novelty, this is not always an obvious thing.
I would also advise you to file an industrial design for protection, it is easier to register.
If you do not know through whom to apply, I advise you to contact here .

Answer 3

| But one buyer decided to copy the device and sell it himself.
First, I decided - it does not mean that I can. Ordinary people do not understand how much effort it takes to develop and even more so production.
He can only take an idea and develop a new device. Ideas are not patented. Since relatively recently, your trace has been guarded, but it costs nothing to remake the board. An electrical circuit cannot be patented. And again, this is elementary.
Your protection is sales. And if functionally the device is very simple and is sold, then its analogues would still appear. And even with clones, your competitors may not be able to sell them.