Start Ups and the Business of Intellectual Property Intellectual Property (IP) plays a multi-dimensional role in every creative, knowledge and technology driven company and its role is more pertinent in a start up

1. by
Vikram Pratap Singh Thakur
Online Entrepreneur and IP Professional
Founder: CouponMinisterTM (A WatelonTM initiative!)
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2.  Mistakes what start ups make.
 Protectable IP elements for online
businesses.
 IP on a budget.
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3. © 2013 Watelon, All rights reserved.

4.  Discussing your ideas carelessly
 Undermining the value of Intellectual assets,
which can be converted to IP
 Not seeing the global picture
 Using a brand that is generic, descriptive or
confusingly similar to others
 Ignoring the difference between work made for
hire and work by independent contractor.
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5. © 2013 Watelon, All rights reserved.

6. Patents • Search engines, e-commerce systems or other technical tools
Copyrights • Creative contents such as website design, written material,
photographs, graphics, music & video
Trademarks • Business names, product names, logos, domain names
• Algorithms, ways of solving technical problems, user manuals,
Trade Secrets consumer profiles, marketing plans, supplier information, data
flow charts, logic flow carts, source code, etc.
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7. © 2013 Watelon, All rights reserved.

8.  Trademarks & Domain names
 Copyrights
 Patents & Trade secrets
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9.  Registration not mandatory – Use in business
important
 Company registration & trademark
registration are not same
 Having a domain name doesn’t give you the
right of using it as trademark
© 2013 Watelon, All rights reserved.

10. Invented / Coined – Kodak, Watelon, Google
Arbitrary – Apple, Orange
Suggestive - CouponMinister , Babydry
Descriptive - BigBazaar
Generic – Escalator, Aspirin
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11. POC - File your
Buy the
trademark
Decide the type Check if domains – at Day 1 - Use TM
Search on Perform a application &
of trademark .com, .net, .info least .com & .in notices in
google, yahoo, trademark Purchase other
for your ,.org are recommended business
bing, etc. search top level
business available for Indian communication
domains like
businesses
.org, .net, .info.
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12.  Registration not mandatory
 Copyright exists once idea is expressed in
tangible form
 Use copyright notices on website
 Content on the website
 Look and feel of the website
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13.  Technology differentiator – Patent is
recommended
 Filing is necessary for protection
 File before launch
 Hire an expert (highly recommended)
 Bootstrapping strategies
 File provisional first
 Prepare using DIY guides – Get an expert to
review
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14.  Consider maintaining as trade secrets
 Can be maintained indefinitely
 Not patentable
 Lower costs than patents / short technology life
span
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15. © 2013 Watelon, All rights reserved.

16.  Copying is common
 Copyright risks
 Write in your own words
 Get legal expert ultimately
 Correct Interpretation
 Help in coverage
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17.  Essential (No exceptions)
 IP ownership & confidentiality clauses
▪ NDA
▪ Employment agreements
▪ Vendor agreements
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18. © 2013 Watelon, All rights reserved.