In Canada, we follow a first-to-file process. If we file first, a good engineering notebook can be used to properly identify inventors. We also note that from a legal standpoint, notebooks can be used to prepare legal proceedings and provide a backing for patent applications. Some countries are first-to-invent, and notebooks can establish invention dates.
Some different types of protection:
- Patents: the legal right to exclude others from making or selling an invention for a given amount of time.
- Copyright: the legal right to print, publish or perform some material and authorise others to do the same.
- Trade secret: techniques used by companies that have some economic value because they’re not generally known or easily found out and that the company takes measures to keep secret.