1. How can you maximize the protection of IP in a startup?
Protecting intellectual property and the legal services associated with it can be a costly affair for a start-up. Through a number of strategies, startups can protect their IP. Acquiring and managing IP rights can incur costs, so the company must first determine if this is necessary. IP rights do not necessarily ensure success of the firm, though it can help to contain the good will the brand has earned over the years. So IP is only meaningful asset in the long term. One strategy a startup can employ is to avoid the public disclosure of their new technology or invention without the signing of a non-disclosure agreement. Likewise, documenting the ownership of intellectual property is another way of protecting once IP. Copyrights also certifies ownership for literature and artistic creations.
2. Please list any questions (at least 2) that you would like to ask a patent attorney if one would be available free (general questions or ones pertaining to your startup).
The two questions that I will ask would be:
i. What would be the suitable IP protection strategy that I have to adopt for my product or design or brand name or technology?
ii. Why do you think this is appropriate?
3. I find the ‘first to invent’ rule that is currently practiced for U.S patenting services, more meaningful than the ‘first to file’. This is because, it helps the person who originally developed the idea to get credit for his work. It will also prevent exploitation. If the person who invented a technique or a product does not want to patent it, then anyone is at the liberty of using his technology or product. By this way, one can prevent companies from making profits with a product developed for free use by the public. This will also prevent theft of intellectual property. The U.S patient identifies dates of conception or a date when the idea is put into practice as the priority date for filing the patent. Thus, a person who simply gets the idea and put them on paper is not always the one who gets the right to patent, but the one who actually conceptualized the idea into a practical application.
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