For most start-ups, especially in the technology space, most or all of your assets will be intangible. Even if you own no equipment, facilities, and product, you (hopefully) still have ideas, designs, and know-how that are of value to the business.
To begin with, these intangible assets will be your intellectual property (IP) in an unregistered form, but some might eventually be the subject of registered IP rights e.g. via patent, trade mark, or registered designs, meaning that you exclusively own these and have the sole rights to make money from them.
When your assets are intangible, it is important to take proper care of them and to develop a suitable IP strategy. Ignoring IP strategy is like accumulating "technical debt" - short-term growth may be fine, but addressing IP issues later on becomes more and more expensive as "IP debt" accumulates unnoticed.
Here are 10 ideas you can implement now to avoid being in “IP debt” when it comes time to talk to investors.
- Conduct a comprehensive IP audit: Start with a comprehensive audit of your IP assets, including patents, trade marks, copyrights, and trade secrets. This can help identify areas of opportunity to improve your IP strategy or where your start-up may be vulnerable.
- Develop a strong IP strategy: Develop a strong IP strategy that aligns with your business goals and objectives. This can help demonstrate to investors that your start-up takes IP seriously and has a plan in place to protect its assets.
- Conduct a patentability search: Conduct a patentability search to ensure that your innovations are novel and non-obvious. This can help demonstrate to investors that your start-up has a strong and defensible IP position.
- Monitor your competitors' IP: Monitor your competitors' IP to identify potential infringement or licensing opportunities. This can help demonstrate to investors that your start-up is aware of its competitive landscape and is proactive in protecting its IP.
- Develop a trade secret policy: Develop a trade secret policy to protect your confidential information and trade secrets. This can help demonstrate to investors that your start-up has a culture of confidentiality and takes the protection of its valuable information seriously.
- Build a strong IP team: Build a strong IP team with expertise in patents, trade marks, copyrights, and trade secrets. This can help demonstrate to investors that your start-up has the internal resources to manage its IP assets effectively and is committed to protecting them.
- File patent applications strategically: File patent applications strategically to protect your key innovations and technologies. This can help demonstrate to investors that your start-up has unique and valuable IP assets that are worth investing in.
- Protect your trade marks: Register your trade marks to protect your brand and prevent others from using similar marks. This can help demonstrate to investors that your start-up has a strong brand identity and is serious about protecting its reputation.
- Leverage your IP for partnerships: Leverage your IP to form partnerships with other companies or organisations. This can help demonstrate to investors that your start-up has valuable IP assets that can generate revenue through licensing or other partnerships.
- Conduct due diligence on potential partners: Conduct due diligence on potential partners to ensure that they have a strong IP position and can add value to your start-up's IP strategy. This can help demonstrate to investors that your start-up is proactive in managing its IP assets and is committed to protecting them.
Many of the above points are things you can make a start on internally and for free. Initial steps such as identifying your confidential information/trade secrets (watch our webinar recording, The secrets to keeping secrets), deciding who should take point on IP matters, or doing some initial searching for relevant patent publications in your field can all be highly valuable.
An initial consultation with professional IP advisers early on can also help to put you on the right track from the start – and professional advice will inevitably become a necessity in developing a robust IP strategy.
AJ Park can help you with any of these ten actions. We provide advice that reflects the stage of growth your business is at rather than taking a one-size-fits-all approach.
Please contact us if you are seeking advice on your IP strategy.
