Houstonians Can Protect Intellectual Property

If you have identified all your potential intellectual property and never operated without professionally prepared documents, you will likely be confident about the value of what you worked so hard to create. And if not, now is the time to turn to your intellectual property. Here are a few things that you, as a startup founder, should do to protect your intellectual property and get started on the right track.

Have you planned to structure the sale of both your business and your intellectual property? To what degree are the products of your company products of an intellectual property? Who owns the property, you or the company? Just as likely, is it possible that a previous employer has claim to your intellectual property?

Heed some advice given in a recent Forbes article titled “Start With The End In Mind: Four Must-Dos For Intellectual Property.”

The simple fact is that with a personal business, so much of your own life – your blood, sweat, tears and ideas – goes into the business. Accordingly, that planning for the business is truly a bit of life planning for yourself.

So how can you protect your intellectual property and what is your property in the first place? And, if you are already at the point of sale, how do you go about protecting and valuing that intellectual property?

For additional information on business succession planning and other estate planning topics in Houston, please visit my website.

Source:  Forbes (June 9, 2014) “Start With The End In Mind: Four Must-Dos For Intellectual Property”