Top 5 Intellectual Property Tips Entrepreneurs Should Not Ignore

Top 5 Intellectual Property Tips Entrepreneurs Should Not Ignore

Intellectual Property (IP) comprises a series of legal ownership claims that include trademarks, copyrights, patents, trade secrets and industrial design rights. Small businesses or startups focus less on IP and consequently involve in lawyers in expensive legal issues. This article shares useful tips to help entrepreneurs guard their ideas and IP policy.

Tip#1: Solemnize Ownership Agreement   

A precise agreement formalizing the ownership among the people involved in the business should be made. The agreement should clearly state the business owner/s and how the dividends created by IP will be shared among the founders; upon company’s expansion or merger.

Tip#2: Spend Wisely on Patent Filing

Patent expenses should be focused on strategic IP protection because patent filing is expensive. Sensitive business ideas and core  patent-able schemes should be revealed to a selected few who have agreed to sign a Non Disclosure Agreement (NDA). Consult a legal professional and opt for a provisional patent application first with the U.S Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is an intelligent way for creating temporary IP protection.

Tip#3: Protect Writing Materials

To protect manual, guide, documents and publicity material from infringement, U.S. law supports copyright notices since 1989. Therefore, to avoid legal hassles in the future, ensure that your company stamps all the materials with the copyright symbol or the word “copyright” and the year of creation and first publication.

(more…)

How to Get your Business Online: On Google Maps

How to Get your Business Online: On Google Maps

Getting people to know about your business is important. A business no one knows of will perish, eventually. And one of the important factors for that is enlisting your business on Google maps; in this post, we will talk about how to get your business on Google maps. Google maps can help people identify your business easily and boost it in many ways. This can also help you to create an online reputation for your business.

The very first step is logging into Google My Business from your Google account. Once you do that, you will see two categories:

  • Storefronts: Choose this option if your business has a physical location; like a restaurant or a coffee shop.
  • Service area business: Choose this if you provide service to your customer by reaching them yourself. You can select this option in a business where you deliver things at people’s doorsteps, or similar services.

Once this is done, the next step is to enter your business’ name and address, which can be done from the drop-down menu; if you see your business already listed there, proceed to claim it by completing the verification.

However, if you don’t see your business in the list, state it there in the option given – “No, these are not my businesses” or “I’ve correctly entered the business”. Once done, you will be prompted to enter some additional details, and then you can proceed with verification.

(more…)