It is difficult to know how to register a mobile application, so it is important to turn to patent and intellectual property registration specialists who can help you from start to finish. The technology sector is constantly expanding and many developers wonder to what extent it is possible to protect a mobile application so that no one can plagiarise the idea. In this post we are going to talk about how you can protect the authorship of your app.

Is it possible to patent an application?

It should be noted that applications cannot be registered as patents. Article 4.4 of the Patent Law states that computer programs are not considered inventions and therefore cannot be patented.

However, there is another way in which we can protect our idea against possible plagiarism, and by which the author will have exclusive rights to his creation: registering the intellectual property.

How to register the intellectual property of an application

The Intellectual Property Register can be done at the indicated headquarters of each Autonomous Community. In general, the registration will require the personal details of the author or authors of the application and of the applicant, in the case of a third party, as well as a series of documents necessary to register any type of software:

  • The entire source code, which will be presented as the copy of the work.
  • An executable of the program
  • An explanatory memory (optional)

It should be borne in mind that if the mobile application has been developed jointly by a company, i.e. if a company commissions its employees to create the application, it is a collective work.

Therefore, although in principle any work of this type belongs to its author(s), as it is a collective work, the company will have economic rights over it and may proceed to register it in its favour, always respecting the moral rights of the author(s).

What is the benefit of registering a mobile application?

In the case of entrepreneurs of mobile applications and internet businesses, registering an application and its trademark is of vital importance because of the visibility to which they are exposed in the world of information. The brand is the image with which they will be known by potential service providers and future business opportunities. In the technology sector, the brand is the company’s main salesperson.

As an official agent, Lidermark will act as an intermediary between the Intellectual Property Registry offices and the authorship of the mobile application, taking care of all the legal and regulatory details, always offering you the best advice.