Intellectual Property for Startups

Most startups begin with a technological innovation. They do not usually have the sales and marketing wherewithal of established rivals and can quickly lose their edge if they do not protect their solutions through a solid patent, copyright and trademark strategy.

Many new companies depend on external financing, from sources such as venture capitalists and business angels. Having a good patent portfolio will reassure these investors, who often hesitate to invest in a technology if it can simply be copied freely by rivals and sold without having to cover R&D costs.

The actual filing is something that you should be cautious of if you aren't sure of what you're doing. Mistakes made in filing for patent or trademarks or copyrights aren't something that you can just go in and fix; you're stuck with that mistake and the fees to correct it are not insignificant, which means it's best to avoid making them in the first place. Talking to an IP attorney might seem like an unnecessary expense, but it's money well spent to get things right the first time.

We invited experts from HongFangLaw to tackle all those questions and help us, business owners, to make the right choice.