Intellectual Property in Commercialization

A key component in commercialization is intellectual property.

Intellectual property refers to work or invention that comes from the creativity of the mind such as a design, literature, or artistic works. 

It comes in several forms including patents, copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets, and industrial designs.

Government institutions carry out the screening and awarding of patents.  

This includes the US Patent Office for the US and the World Trade Organization for international cooperation and mutual recognition of country-specific intellectual property.

Before launching a product into the market, the founder should consider an intellectual property strategy.

Patents require full disclosure of the invention and documents how it works.

To file one must first do a search for prior art and gain the freedom to operate opinion.

Trade secrets keep the intellectual property undisclosed.   

An example of this is the formula for Coca-Cola.  

Only the inventors know the formula.  

A good intellectual property strategy contains most if not all of the various structures including patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets.

Start your intellectual property strategy by filing provisional patents.  

Provisional patents give you one year to determine whether or not the patent should be pursued.  

At the end of the year, pursue the ones that give protection to the business and let go of the rest.

Intellectual property should be considered before fundraising as investors look for protection on the business before funding. 

 

Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let’s go startup something today.

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Thank you for joining your host Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso — your daily shot of startup funding and investing.

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Hall T Martin is the director of Investor Connect, which is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to the education of investors for early-stage funding. All opinions expressed by Hall and podcast guests are solely their own opinions and do not reflect the opinion of Investor Connect. This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon for the basis of investment decisions.