Intellectual Property Checklist for Start-ups

Introduction

IP startup checklist keeps the Founder of a start-up holder more focused on the tasks that are more important and reminds them of any incomplete items. For start-ups, intellectual property may seem daunting. With the following IP checklist, my goal is to keep it simple by focusing on the more important IP rights that should be considered by startups.

What is Intellectual for Start-ups?

Every start-up has IP rights that it needs to know and protect in order to excel in its business. Each start-up uses a business name, brand, logo, advertising, inventions, designs, products, or a website that has valuable IP rights.

In addition, for many reasons, start-up companies should be proactive in developing and protecting their intellectual property, such as improving the valuation of their company, generating better goodwill, protecting its competitive advantage, using intellectual property as a marketing edge, and using IP rights as a potential revenue stream through licensing.

IP Checklist for Start-ups

There are different points which come under as a checklist of Intellectual property for a start-up to start -

1. Registration of Trademark

It can be difficult to pick your business name, brands for your products and services, and associated taglines. Undoubtedly, you are already considering differentiating your company from the competition. Because the purpose of a trademark is to identify the source of a product or service, it is never too early to consider trademark registration. Typically, a trademark is a name or logo that lets buyers know that what they are buying comes from your business and not someone else.

2. Registration of Copyright

Registering copyright can be a powerful weapon against copycats. The trick is registering your works before others copy them. This will allow you to recover fees from the attorney and monetary statutory damages against an infringer of copyright. Apply for copyright protection if possible while the works are unpublished (i.e., prior to distributing copies to the public).

Always keep in mind that under copyright law, concepts and functions are generally not protected. Consider patent protection if your idea is functional in nature.

3. Patent Registration

An invention must be unique to the prior art to be patentable, a term that generally refers to what is already out there. However, infringement focuses on whether each feature/element recited in at least one independent claim of the patent involves your product or service.

Patent registration includes a search of patents through Online Google Patents and Free Patents for Patent Quest. Notice that I have not listed the USPTO website, which makes it very difficult for users to see pictures of patent drawings. You can download PDF's of the patents from the two suggested pages.

4. Assign of IP to the Team

Get everyone on the team to assign their IP rights to the start-up company at the very beginning. This includes founders, staff, advisors, independent contractors, and anyone else who may be involved in the creative process and/or product development.

An IP assignment agreement's early-stage timing is critical. If you wait, future conditions may make it exponentially harder for signatures to be secured. People might change their minds or relocate.

5. Budget

Protecting the intellectual property of your start-up on a limited budget can be difficult but not impossible. Utility patents take the most time and money to obtain from the 3 types of IP filings: patents, trademarks & copyrights.

Let's start with the simpler IP filings that require little or no financing: trademark, copyright, patent design, and applications for provisional patents. While a single copyright application is not a huge expense, if you have multiple works to register, the expenses can add up. In this case, you could save money by using an experienced IP lawyer who, if certain qualifications are met, may be able to group multiple works into a single copyright application. Before launching, preferably consult with an IP attorney because unpublished works can be easier to consolidate into a single copyright filing.

Importance of IP for Start-ups

1. Protection of IP must be a Priority:

Under the intellectual property regime, start-ups cannot afford the full protection available. The first step for any start-up is to evaluate the IP rights involved in its business and priorities them. IP rights play an important role, depending on the type of industry involved.

If IP rights are not identified or prioritized, it is likely to create problems for start-ups, particularly during negotiations with future investors or when they exit their business. IP rights are sometimes the only asset available to a startup.

2. Intellectual Property Rights Register:

It is important to note that prior to claiming any protection under the respective statutes, certain IP rights, such as patents and designs, must be registered. On the other hand, for protection under certain IP rights such as trademark and copyright do not need to be obligatorily registered.

3. Clear and Effective Policies

Based on the long-term interest of start-ups to have an Intellectual Property Policy to manage the different IP rights that start-ups may currently own, create, or acquire in the future. The aim of such a policy is to ensure that there is no conflict between the promoters of start-ups, which remains one of the main concerns of start-up failure to date.

4. IP Agreements

It is important to remember that providing adequate paperwork in the form of agreements such as non-disclosure agreements, employment agreements or independent contractors will make all the difference between start-ups' success and failure. Typically, either the creators or a key employee, or a third party develop intellectual property. The intellectual property thus produced must, as the case may be, be secured by a proper agreement between the creator or key employee or a third party and the start-up.

To know more, about How a Startup can acquire and build a high-performance Team, Kindly see the video below-

Conclusion

Startups will begin the patent protection process without breaking the bank. A start-up, for example, will file a brief and oriented document called a "provisional application." A provisional application is simply a summary of the technology and how it operates.

Generally, this preliminary filing can be used to demonstrate when you invented the invention and it gives you the more expensive formal paperwork required for the patent-application process a year before you have to compile it.

BY-

Saumya Krishnani