Start Ups: Intellectual Property Protection

Whenever a business is started it is important to protect your intellectual property to build value, attract investors, obtain a competitive edge, and to prevent others from using, stealing, or copying your inventions, creative works, brands, and trademarks.

Some areas to evaluate for potential intellectual property protection include:

Utility Patents - physical products, software or mobile applications, and methods of using, making, or manufacturing

Design Patents - the unique appearance of physical products, including contours, arrangements, and other unique visual features

Trademarks - brand names, logos, designs, and potentially others such as sounds and unique color, as well as know and identifiable designs of products

Trade Dress - unique packaging appearance, or unique color schemes of your business interior or other locations

Copyrights - original works such as books, films, songs, albums, records, software code, artwork, and much more

Trade Secrets - confidential information such as customer lists, marketing processes, manufacturing methods, design or engineering methods, and other information that is defined as secret and not made publicly available

No matter the type of intellectual property your business has, it is crucial to take steps to protect it for your business value as early as possible.