Learn how to “legally” startup your business — from intellectual property protection and shareholder agreements to contracts and financing, getting the right legal advice at the right time to save you money, reduce stress and avoid the coming — and deadly — traps that can kill your startup.
Week 2 agenda
Do you really own your IP?
Topics: Contributing IP to a start-up; What does it mean to “assign” IP to a start-up? How do you control IP; Do founder(s)’ employee and contractor have residual rights (and can they take the IP elsewhere?)
Partnering with others
Topics: Confidentiality; cross-licensing; joint ownership of IP
Why patent your innovation (and when to stop patenting)?
Topics: Pros of patents; costs of patents; limits of patents – what can’t be patented, and can you afford to (not) enforce it?
If you don’t patent, will you still have protection? (Hint: copyright and trade secrets)
Topics: Copyright, trade secrets, industrial designs
Freedom to operate – what does this mean and why does it matter?
Topics: What does FTO mean? What is the difference between FTO and patentability? If my start-up owns its own patents, doesn’t it have FTO?