New ideas are vital for the success of start-ups, as much as they are fundamental for the sustainability of any business.
When you have a great new idea and you develop it into a business case, it seems natural to widely publicise it among the interested public. Media coverage, in particular social media, helps to promote what you have to offer. However, when it comes to protecting your new ideas (and products), patience in not sharing your concept to the wider public too soon is often a virtue in safeguarding your business. This two-part article will share some tips and gives pointers as to how temporarily keeping under the radar can protect your intellectual property (IP).
Before launching your idea and business to the world, it pays to get all your ducks in a row. This includes planting your flag in the ground in terms of obtaining the right IP protection. Not having applied for IP before disclosing your idea and product to the public risks having somebody else beating you to the punch after seeing it covered in the media. Worse still, prior public disclosure stops you from subsequently filing certain IP protection validly, such as a patent.
Keeping information confidential
As well as refraining from launching your idea prematurely, it may also be prudent to limit the number of people privy to details in the developmental stage of your idea to limit potential leaks to a minimum. For example, avoid providing the complete data set to any individual at one time, or withhold any information that might be unnecessary for a particular person to know.
When disclosure of your idea prior to filing of IP application is unavoidable, for example to potential investors and manufacturers, make sure you have binding nondisclosure agreements (NDA) signed. An example of such an agreement can be found on the UK Intellectual Property Office website. Such an agreement does not always protect your idea, but does make clear to third parties that discussions are confidential.
Ideas development
If you have employees or external designers working on the development of your idea, make sure you have (employment) contracts in place stipulating that all IP belongs to the employer or the commissioner of the work carried out.
If preparing such agreements yourself, it is prudent to get your IP lawyers to review them to ensure they adequately cover your IP rights.
In the second part of the article, we will look into strategies you can adopt when filing for IP protection.