Steps to Protecting Your Startup

You have a creative thought or idea for an invention you wish to create or a business startup you wish to launch. You are so excited about this new prospect that you share your ideas and plans with family, friends, co-workers, gym buddies, etc., and voila, someone starts a business just like you had envisioned. How can you protect your startup to help keep your dream alive?

There is no way around protecting your startup without the word “legal” in its context. A patent attorney specializes in unique ways in which to legally keep your startup protected. Patent lawyers are experts in the field of intellectual property and patents.

Legal Strategies

Law firms that specialize in patents, trademarks, or copyrights, are in nearly all 50 states. However, each state has its own regulations on how the Lanham Act is instituted, like a patent attorney in Utah who protects inventors with consumer protection laws and the Truth in Advertising Act. A patent attorney will protect your idea from being stolen, with creative legal strategies:

i. Non-Disclosure Agreement

While you are recruiting and hiring your team members, you should take precautions. Any individuals who are presently working with you in your startup projects or anyone whom you may hire later should mutually agree to keep your secrets confidential. Thus enters a non-disclosure agreement between you and other parties. A patent attorney can include clauses to ensure that no one reveals any confidential information.

ii. Non-Compete Agreement

Employees can be required to sign a non-compete agreement to ensure that they will not take your ideas and start their own startup as a competitor. If departing employees hide a hidden motive once they leave your startup, a non-compete agreement can include specific mile ranges in which they can not establish a startup similar to yours.

iii. Provisional Patent Application

Filing a provisional patent application means that your interest is in a patent-pending holding status for up to a year. As such, no one can infringe on your interests while you are waiting to file for a standard patent.

DIY or Use A Patent Attorney

As a new startup entrepreneur, you can perform your own patent filing, but do you have the time?

• Filing a boatload of trademark and court paperwork involving your startup
• Prove that your startup is unique and marketable.
• Perform research to ensure that your startup does not infringe on an existing startup both in the United States and abroad. This part of patent law is very succinct because you must ensure that if your startup name is similar to one in another state or country, the font, the spelling, wording, design, etc. must be totally different.
• Pay application fees
• Meet all filing deadlines

Types of Patents

A patent protects an invention. These are the are primary types of patents:

• Design patents: any new and original design on manufactured products are filed under a design patent. However, a design patent cannot be a workable product, only aesthetic in its design.
• Utility patents: an example of a utility patent is categorized as follows: biological inventions; newly created chemical formulas or procedures; computer hardware, software, and accessories; cosmetics; electrical and electronic inventions; food inventions; houseware creations; industrial machines or an update of an existing idea.
• Plant patents: what sort of innovation might be covered by a plant patent? Imagine a new method for facilitating asexual reproduction in plants, which is the propagation of a plant to multiply the plant without the use of genetic seeds to assure an exact genetic copy of the plant being reproduced. Any known method of asexual reproduction that renders a true genetic copy of the plant may be employed. This may include cultivating different types of plants to create mutants or hybrids and also newly found seedlings.

For a successful application process, partner with a patent attorney who is experienced and knowledgeable in your field for an invention or business startup.