Startup Funding Espresso -- Legal: Intellectual Property

Investor Connect Podcast

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. In launching your startup you must consider your intellectual property strategy. Intellectual property or IP includes patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets. You should trademark your company name. For your technology, you can either file patents or keep it as a trade secret. If you file patents, you first file a provisional patent which gives you one year to decide if you want to file a full patent. Half the value of a patent is in raising funding, as investors give you credit for having technology that is substantial enough to protect. It’s common to file multiple provisional patents and then for the following twelve months consider which patents are going to provide protection against competitors. Before the patents expire, you then file for a full patent on the ones you want to keep and you let the others go. The alternative to patents is keeping trade secrets, in which case there’s no filing required. If you have trade secrets make clear to prospective investors what value those trade secrets bring to your business. Those who want to know the trade secrets must sign an NDA or non-disclosure agreement to learn more. In discussing with prospective investors who have not signed an NDA, talk about the benefits of your trade secrets rather than how they work. For example, our trade secrets reduce the cost of product build by 3X. That way you receive credit without having to reveal them. 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.-----For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: Check out our other podcasts here: For Investors check out: For Startups check out: For eGuides check out: For upcoming Events, check out For Feedback please contact [e-mail]