Intellectual Property Issues for Start-ups
Ben Franklin famously stated “[a]n ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” Startups pour all their time and energy into research, creativity and execution when coming up with a new product or service. As a result, and often unwittingly, Start-ups (and many other businesses for that matter) tend to overlook the importance of Intellectual Property Rights until it is too late.
Regardless of industry, Ideas are the keys to any successful business. Intellectual Property rights relate to the embodiment or manifestation of an idea under Copyright, Patent, Trademark, Trade Secret and Publicity Rights laws that grant exclusive rights to the owner, both artistic and commercial. While it may seem simple choosing the best IP rights regime to protect your ideas is often tricky. The sooner you do this better. Many costly risks and pitfalls can be avoided if one thinks early and often about IP rights.
Here is a primer on the basics of What, Why and How, such rights arise.
David has significant in-house counsel experience managing the legal affairs of industry-leading software providers in the public relations, marketing, and financial serivces industries, negotiating and drafting enterprise-level Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) agreements and contracts with a heavy emphasis on proprietary rights.
He is a prolific writer maintaining a technology-focused blog on CIO.com: The Legal Side of Tech, and newsletter (Ping®) devoted to helping entrepreneurs and professionals identify, protect and monetize their creative content and ideas, and take advantage of the opportunities presented by today’s digital business platforms.
David is licensed in Illinois, a member of the Illinois State Bar, Federal General Bar and Federal Trial Bar, and is a member of the Illinois State Bar Association Intellectual Property Law Committee.
Outside the practice of law, David taught Music Law as an Adjunct Professor at DePaul College of Law, and previously taught both Entertainment Law and Introduction to E-Business at Columbia College Chicago. David formerly chaired the Chicago Bar Association's Media & Entertainment Law Committee.
