Innovation Asset Blog

IP oversights could compromise startup branding

When a company is first getting operations up off the ground, the majority of its assets are likely to be intellectual in nature. Startups that fail to protect those resources accordingly could consequently risk spoiling any early success with legal troubles down the line.

Long before a business produces its first product or attracts its first clients, company creators will have spent many hours building a vision for their brand. As a clear identity begins to emerge, it's essential for founders to start thinking about insulating their ingenuity with proper copyright and trademark protections.

Resources will naturally be a bit tight for most young companies, but intellectual property management is not the place to cut corners. According to Entrepreneur, even something as simple as recruiting a friend of a friend to help with logo design could turn into a legal dilemma if not handled appropriately upfront.

Other common traps cited by the news source included neglecting to search for registered intellectual assets tied to similar names, and mistakenly assuming that a registered domain name translates to comprehensive protection offline. In any case, IP consultation is a line item expense worth including in even the most strained startup budgets.

Peter Ackerman

Peter Ackerman

Founder & CEO, Innovation Asset Group, Inc.