article thumbnail

Nuts & Bolts of Intellectual Property for New Startups

Gust

So you’ve chosen a name for your startup, product, or both. Trademarks , which we touched on last week, are brand and product names, graphic logos, slogans, taglines, and other indicators of origin of the goods or services in question. Hence this “Cliff’s Notes” refresher, to be followed by a discussion of why it matters.

article thumbnail

Someone Stole My Startup Idea – Part 3: The Best Defense is a Good IP Strategy

Steve Blank

The assets you can protect may include your “core technology&# like source code, hardware designs, architectures, processes, formulas. Or it can be your brand , logo or domain name. A contract is a binding legal agreement that is enforceable in a court of law. Your invention must be “ non-obvious.”

Insiders

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

article thumbnail

The Ultimate Inventor’s Guide to Inventing Things

Up and Running

If you do have competition, pay special attention to your product name, price range, materials used, what the product claims to do, packaging, and who the manufacturer is. A great way to find potential licensees is to look for products similar to yours and then to look for the name of the manufacturer. A benefit statement.

article thumbnail

Someone Stole My Startup Idea – Part 2: They Raised Money With My.

Steve Blank

As we were out looking for our Series B round, our company had gotten the attention of “name of big VC firm here” who wanted a play in enterprise software. We consciously didn’t ask potential customers to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA). Theme: Digg 3 Column by WP Designer. Are These Your Slides?

article thumbnail

Tips For Hiring An Independent Contractor

YoungUpstarts

This is especially important for creative services such as artwork or design.). For example: A non-disclosure agreement (NDA). Sometimes called a confidentiality agreement, this gives you confidence that your independent contractor is not sharing your business plans or trade secrets with competitors or other businesses.

Hiring 246
article thumbnail

The Top 5 Intellectual Property Mistakes

Up and Running

Your name or product name, branding, and customer lists are all valuable IP assets and need protection. And, if you are working with anyone on your business or idea, having work-for-hire and employment agreements will ensure the work done for the company is owned by the company. My business doesn’t have IP.

article thumbnail

Protecting Your Business Idea

YoungUpstarts

Anytime you decide to bring in someone who does not have a stake in your business idea you should have them sign a binding Non Disclosure Agreement or NDA before you tell them or show them a thing. This includes anyone who comes to work with you such as a programmer or designer. They did it while working for you.