Beyond Patents: Protection of IP rights in Tech Startups

When it comes to intellectual property protection, emerging startups are usually more focused on protecting their work through patenting. It is undeniable that securing your inventions and utility models is a necessity. However, very often, other intellectual property is left unprotected, which can harm business operations and the brand. In this article, we will cover how trademark and copyright registration, as well as trade secrets protection, might be beneficial for startups.

A trademark is what distinguishes the business in the market of goods and services, as customers recognize the brand by its name. Even though it is possible to conduct business without a registered trademark, this may create certain risks for a startup. Among them, for example, is the fact that the trademark can be registered by third parties who accidentally came up with a similar name, or that unfair competitors, partners, and employees might register the trademark. As a result, startups may receive a claim or lawsuit for infringement, spend money on litigation, be forced to change their domain, website, signage, reissue products, etc.

Early filing of a trademark application can save time and money. It is important to distinguish between a trademark, a legal entity name, and a DBA (doing business as). It is worth remembering that registering a legal entity name does not mean that others cannot register the same name as a trademark. And the DBA name does not protect the business from situations where someone will register such a name as a trademark.

The next point we want to emphasize is copyright. In startups, copyright registration can protect software code, databases, or marketing and educational materials. It should be noted that copyright doesn’t protect the ideas or concepts; it only protects the expressions of those ideas. Copyright does not protect the functions of software, only the code itself, and the new version of a computer program is considered a new copyrightable work. Copyright in a database extends to the authorship of the compilation present in the database, or the compilation and new copyrightable content. Marketing and educational content can be protected by copyright as works of literature and graphic works.

Last but not least, the startups can protect their lists of clients, potential clients, suppliers, business and marketing plans, recipes, formulas, prototypes, results of R&D activity, and others as trade secrets. A trade secret can be any kind of financial, business, scientific, technical, economic, or engineering information. Such information shall meet certain requirements to be considered eligible for trade secret protection. First, the startup must have taken reasonable measures to keep such information secret. Second, if the information is generally known to the public or is readily ascertainable through proper means by the public, it may not be considered a trade secret.

Trade secrets are protected through a set of procedures. It may include identification and labeling measures, contractual measures (NDA or its contract clauses with partners, employees, NCA), and cybersecurity measures. Educational measures are also needed, such as implementing onboarding and exit procedures for employees and individual contractors, and frequent reminders help everyone involved in the work gain a comprehensive understanding.

Protection of intellectual property is an effective way to support your business development and avoid costly procedures that may arise in the future. It is advantageous for a startup to consider building its IP portfolio from the very beginning. An intellectual property lawyer can help businesses secure and protect their intellectual property rights.