Protecting Your IP

Nothing may be of more value to a company than its intellectual property (IP). And in this dog-eat-dog world, you can never be too careful ensuring your IP stays yours. So here are some pointers on how to safeguard IP from John Nemazi, a patent attorney with Brooks Kushman P.C. (brookskushman.com), a law firm specializing in IP protection:
• When developing your idea and needing to involve suppliers and vendors, you should obtain non-disclosure agreements. Nemazi suggests that to minimize the number of eyes that see it, another option is to try to develop it completely in-house.
• Keep records tracking the development of your product and consider acquiring patents for its design alternatives—even if your particular item is never made that way—just to stop competitors from attempting to copy it. Nemazi says that just patenting an invention or design sometimes isn’t good enough.
• Think abroad: U.S. patents don’t offer protection in other countries. So if you see the product having significant markets outside the U.S., it’s important to protect it there, too.