Inventors, entrepreneurs and start-ups often like taking risks and
pushing the boundaries. That is what innovation is all about and surely
our world would not have progressed as much if it were not for
risk-takers. However, when it comes to the intellectual property (IP),
making mistakes can have disastrous consequences. Here are four common
mistakes you need to avoid.
1 Not seeking legal advice at the beginning
Maybe not having a budget to properly protect your IP or trying to do
it all yourself. It’s a dilemma: save a few hundred pounds now, while
money is scarce, but leave yourself open to risks of potential
litigation and significant costs later. Prevention is better than cure
and certainly the cost of prevention is much less than the cost of
correction/litigation/lost value and investment. Having a budget does
not mean it must be huge, but it means access to an IP lawyer (and not
only a patent attorney) will help you protect and make the most of your
invention.
2 Not recognising or protecting the value of IP
IP includes a variety of rights patents, copyrights, trademarks,
trade secrets and other confidential or proprietary
information. Sometimes inventors think that if they do not have a patent
there is nothing worth protecting or if they apply for a patent that’s
all the protection and advice they need. Unfortunately, it’s not that
simple. You should understand that even if an invention is not
patentable, it’s still worth discussing the various options with an IP
specialist, since it may be protected via copyright or as trade secret.
Think the magic formula of Coca Cola. IP rights when managed correctly
can (a) be licensed; (b) be sold/assigned; (c) be enforced against a
suspected infringer and protect their owner against competition and
increase the value of the invention.
3 Not carrying out appropriate clearances
Using a trademark, domain name, design or product without searching
whether someone else has registered it or is already using a similar
name, design, etc, can be a very expensive mistake – not only in terms
of having to adopt another name, domain name and paying extra costs, but
also in terms of bad publicity and PR, lost customers and exposure to
potentially very expensive damages.
4 Not having appropriate agreements
Without the use of appropriate agreements, an inventor may lose their
valuable IP assets. An inventor often needs people to perform various
tasks, either as employees or third party suppliers/contractors. In each
case, the inventor must adopt the correct agreement to ensure ownership
of IP and other rights and obligations such as confidentiality,
non-competition and non-solicitation. Simple payment for the work
performed does not guarantee IP ownership.
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