Smart Ways to Protect Your Intellectual Property The Right Way
What do we think of when the word personal property comes to our mind? Real estate? Heirloom will? Company shares piling up in the bank? What about a new invention that can shake the technology world completely? Inventions and innovations have always been the lifeline of the technology sector, a ballooning industry that powers the world. So, what happens when a new technology is brought under the spotlight? In order to drive progression and financial stability, multiple other vendors start leaching off the revolutionary product, creating variations of their own. In the technological sector, something as simple as a mild modification in an existing tech could shake the tech world completely. So, what happens next? Someone inspired by your carefully thought through idea presents a better version of the world, claiming fame, money, and stability that was once reserved for you.
As soon as a new invention hits you, the most natural step you’ll take is to shout it out to the world. Let them know what you’ve innovated could fuel their lives in a whole different way. But the real question of the hour is, are you keeping intellectual protection in mind? While most IP lawyers would naturally ask you to file a patent and get it over with, sometimes, a simple patent is not enough to secure your innovation. Unless and until you want someone to tweak your idea into something better, you should work hand in hand with startup law firms to ensure your kick-started venture has an iron-clad system to protect your intellectual property. Let us brief you on some of the intellectual property protection steps IP lawyers around the world recommends-
Don’t Patent Your Product
We know it sounds completely different from the traditional IP protection, but here’s the deal. When you patent an innovation, you are opening up all the steps and the intricacies of your project to the public. This means someone can always start from scratch, take ideas from your patent and stir up something better. Instead of a patent, you can standardize the idea with a standards association so that others can’t copy the steps and intricacies involved in your hard-earned innovation.
Keep the Hustle Up
Being stagnant with a world-class innovation is exactly how people fade into the dark. One day, you see someone with a brand new technology, the entire sector hyped up. The next day, someone creates new technology, the sector shifts its focus to him. In order to truly protect your intellectual hold in the market, IP lawyers suggest you keep innovating on the same foundation, coming up with new, improved ways to put your innovation to use.
Choose your storage well
The cloud could be one of the safest storage spots in the 21st Century but lecherous technological hacks are not unheard of. In order to protect your intellectual property, we suggest creating a rock-solid safeguard, digitally strong, non-intrusive and authenticated with risk analysis. In order to avoid a breach, startup law firms also recommend disintegrating your formula and storing it in bits and pieces so that a simple hack can’t extract the entire innovation at one go.
Avoid Partnerships
When it comes to intellectual properties, even your friends could turn foes within seconds. We come across multiple partnerships gone wrong cases and thus, recommend avoiding joint ownership of innovations. You can either break down the innovation and claim separate recognition for the ideas put through or ensure the joint ownership has no loopholes that can be misused later.
Branch Out Maintenance within Departments
So your new innovation could power some revolutionary steps in the industry, but in order to continue reaping the benefits of your innovation, you are bound to create a close-circuit group of trust-worthy people who can help you with the upkeep your invention. This is majorly how innovative avant-garde startup jumpstarts themselves. However, startup law firms recommend breaking down the entire recipe into small bits and letting each department handle a bit. This way, your invention stays protected from the prying eyes while you and your taskforce work for the upkeep.
Keep Your Name Involved
Now patents and trademarks act as the face of the innovation, but in order to have the world recognize your contribution, don’t shy down from some hardcore marketing. The more your innovation appears with you or your company’s name on it, the more people start associating your innovation with you. The result, even if a new face pops up with a variation of your IP, you’d still be recognized for it since you’ve already become a trustworthy, familiar face amongst your viewers.
Secure Your Exact-Match Domain Fast
It may sound like a hefty start out a cost, but in the long run, it’s going to be worth it. For instance, if you’re on the brink of a breakthrough and you find an exact-match domain at a negligible cost, buying it right then and there can help you avoid humungous financial drains when your innovation actually takes off, and your exact-match domain value skyrockets in front of you.
These Intellectual Property protection techniques by IP lawyers are just the tip of the iceberg. There’s much more to Intellectual property protection, with the rules updating itself from time to time. Experts recommend shaking hands with a startup law firm or an IP lawyer who has dealt with IP protection before to ensure your innovation gets the best protection backbone ever.