The ultimate crash course on protecting Intellectual Property; Lexology, October 13, 2020

Dennemeyer – The IP Group - Irene Corn, Lexology; The ultimate crash course on protecting Intellectual Property

"Why is it essential to protect your IP?

Your IP — including blueprints, artistic representations, and other information regarding your products, services, publications and branding — is your organization's lifeblood. Without it, those assets would simply not exist because you would have no incentive to create them in the first place.

If IP in business were free for the taking, overall competition among different companies in the same field would be severely limited. It would ultimately be dependent on mundane factors, like marketing and distribution budgets. Moreover, businesses and individual authors alike would get stuck and feel no pressure to create something new; similarly, in the patent field, thousands of the most notable technological advancements of the last century might not have come to pass. The stakes may not be as high for trademarks, but they are still immensely important because of how they express your brand's identity."

Why Protecting Recipes Under Intellectual Property Law May Leave a Bad Taste in Your Mouth; Above The Law, August 27, 2018

Tom Kulik, Above The Law; Why Protecting Recipes Under Intellectual Property Law May Leave a Bad Taste in Your Mouth

[Kip Currier: Interesting and useful information--in case you're thinking about monetizing your own BBQ rub...or marketing Grandma's secret recipe for fill-in-the-blank.] 

"What may be pleasing to the palate, however, is not always acceptable under intellectual property law."

Waiting to Protect Intellectual Property Could Doom Your Startup; Kellogg Insight, August 3, 2017

Mark McCareins and Pete Slawniak, Kellogg Insight; Waiting to Protect Intellectual Property Could Doom Your Startup

"Based on insights from Mark McCareins and Pete Slawniak

It pays to be certain your idea is original.  

McCareins: A prior art search needs to be done to make sure that what you’re getting patented is really and uniquely your own.  There may be a temptation not to do a comprehensive search because it's expensive, but you don’t want to find out later that someone had the same invention.  

People say, “Well I got a patent so I’m good to go,” but that’s only half the battle. Even when the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has granted a patent, that doesn’t mean a federal court might not come in later and invalidate that patent based on another party’s complaint.  

Slawniak: When you file a patent, look around and do a search. See what other folks in the industry are doing. See what other patents are out there. Read the scholarly work around technology in your field and have some conversations with people in the industry. Your patent is a reflection of your R&D investment and your technological advantage, so it's important to know exactly where that product differentiation is. An exhaustive search will ensure you have a strong patent, and hopefully help your patent issue faster. When you have something you believe has value, it’s worth the investment of time to develop and protect it. "

Protecting Your Business: When To Consult An Intellectual Property Lawyer; CBS Los Angeles, July 6, 2017

Christopher Millard, CBS Los Angeles; Protecting Your Business: When To Consult An Intellectual Property Lawyer

"To many a small business owner, legalese can inspire fear in the heart. Intellectual property law is no exception, but this critical legal concept is tantamount to the health and well-being of your business. As Darren Dahl of the New York Times points out, “They see images of expensive lawyers and use that as an excuse to ignore the topic, reasoning that it is a problem for big companies to worry about.” He goes on to point out that through the rise of the internet, protecting your intellectual property has become a necessity. Small businesses are threatened more so, due to the lack of personnel to police intellectual property infringement.

So, let’s decode exactly what intellectual property means, and when you need to call in a lawyer to help your organization...

This article was written by Christopher Millard for CBS Small Business Pulse"

10 Intellectual Property Strategies For Technology Startups; Forbes, June 6, 2017

Richard Harroch and Neel Chatterjee, Forbes; 10 Intellectual Property Strategies For Technology Startups

"Intellectual property issues often are among the most important considerations that a technology startup will encounter. A startup will face numerous issues involving developing a product, hiring qualified employees, raising capital, and more. With all of these issues, intellectual property can feel distracting, expensive, or contrary to the goals of just getting a product to market before someone else does.

However, intellectual property is often the most valuable asset of a technology startup. Protecting intellectual property can be essential to obtaining venture capital funding or preventing competitors from unfairly competing with you.

In this article, we provide 10 critical intellectual property strategies for you to implement."