Intellectual Property Business Advice For Startups
Before considering a budget for services such as Outsourcing, Trademark or Patents even, I’d like to give you some pointers based on my experience of advising startups of all types over many years.
Businesses tend to change radically in the early years so that a few years after starting up, many look nothing like their initial manifestation.
Sometimes this can be because as they get market feedback on their concepts their ideas develop and they pivot. Or it may be that new businesses don’t know what it is exactly that they do, and who they do it for. Even professionals, like lawyers and web designers, who you would think know pretty clearly what they do, struggle with this.
Startups, therefore, take time to find their feet.
For this reason, I would counsel against spending too much money on anything, be it design, legal fees, or otherwise. As the business gradually achieves clarity about the demand for its goods and services, and figures out which services will generate revenue, and responds to the market, its offering and niche will change.
Early phase legal work
Early phase legal work can therefore often be of temporary benefit only.
Yet what happens in practice when a start up chooses lawyers is that a price is set for the various documents or services the lawyer considers the business needs. This might include a trade mark, terms of business, a website development agreement, documentation for the website, and anything else that is particularly appropriate for a given type of business.
The value a good lawyer can offer to startups goes far beyond the provision of documentation or a particular legal service.
It may be that you could save by using templates and do your own drafting to implement the necessary documents for your business.
One problem is how to get access to best practice intellectual property advice so as to start up your business and projects independently without need to consult lawyers about every decision you need to make as you pivot and change direction.
In fact, few businesses can afford to consult lawyers on the intellectual property issues that arise in the very early stages of their projects, such as when they’re choosing names or even when they’re commissioning websites. Either they don’t realise that so many of their actions have far reaching intellectual property implications, or it’s not feasible to incur legal fees when the project is in its infancy.
The mistake with IP is in assuming you can leave it to one side till later – such as once you have something to protect. You need to know how to make good choices, what checks to make, and which provisions to include in legal agreements you should use early on.
Over the years Azrights has realised that this requires a different approach to that of consulting lawyers in the traditional lawyer/client one to one advisory service approach.
Intellectual property has a broad meaning. It includes the knowledge and skills that are to be deployed in the business or project, or which will be turned into a business. It is an umbrella term that includes:
- patents,
- trade marks,
- designs,
- copyright and
- trade secrets/confidentiality.
Registration of rights, which people traditionally associate with intellectual property, comes later and often people will consult a lawyer at that time. However, by then it may already be too late to rectify the impact of some of the early decisions and choices they’ve made.
Whether you need support choosing and protecting a brand name, understanding what IP agreements you need in place, or getting an IP audit as your business grows, we can help.
Get in touch with Azrights to find out how we can support your startup on solid IP foundations.
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