Starting your own business is a new and exciting challenge that can be rewarding, but overwhelming. From the beginning, it’s important to consider the intellectual property associated with your business and ensure its protection and availability for use. There’s nothing worse than building a business and a brand around a name, later to find out that is already in use and has trademark protections by someone else.
Below, we’ll examine some of the basic intellectual property considerations you should be aware of at the outset of your entrepreneurial journey.
What is intellectual property?
Think of intellectual property as the outcomes of your creative process to which an individual has legal rights. Depending on the type of business you start, your creations are protected by law with the ability to patent, trademark and/or copyright your work. Doing so allows you, as the inventor, to financially prosper from your inventions.
Related: Securing Your Startup’s Intellectual Property Rights
Protecting your non-confidential intellectual property
Not all intellectual property associated with your business is confidential. For example, your logo and business name are closely associated with your brand, but are not confidential.
