Startup Business Consultant – meet the Best Friend you didn’t know you(r business) needed!

I’ve helped a number of people become small business owners. This includes first-time inventors and those with the entrepreneurial spirit who have a good idea.

You might ask yourself, “Do I really need an attorney?” My expenses are already through the roof.

I have years of experience with intellectual property helping first-time inventors become entrepreneurs. A lot of them make the same mistakes. They walk into the “Intellectual Property Minefield” unaware of what might happen or the legal ramifications of their mistakes. Many problems could have been solved had the parties talked to an intellectual property attorney much earlier.

You wouldn’t perform dentistry on yourself, would you? Of course not! An intellectual property attorney can help you avoid costly mistakes which might destroy your business down the road.
Trust me – it happens.
You know that old saying “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure?” It absolutely is true. Here’s a few examples of costly mistakes that the new business owners make.

Trademark Infringement Mistake

A company hired a manufacturer for lacrosse balls but forgot to have an attorney like me look at a product sample. The Chinese manufacturer put a logo on the balls that was very similar to another company’s registered trademark.

Well, you can guess at what happened next. They received a nasty “Cease & Desist” letter that alleged trademark infringement.

The result? Pretty bad. They had to destroy their inventory. It cost the fledgling small business a lot, but it’s a mistake that could have been avoided had the business owner talked to an Intellectual Property attorney beforehand.

Wrong Patent Strategies

A very eager inventor and entrepreneur wanted to develop a business around his invention.

He hired another patent company which gave him bad advice about the difficulty of obtaining a patent for the invention he had. In short, he wanted a utility patent. Really, a series of design patents would match his business plan better in my opinion.

They took his money, and a lot of it, to prepare and file a utility patent which was ultimately denied by the US Patent and Trademark Office.

I met him too late. I could’ve saved him a lot of money with a better intellectual property strategy that matched his startup business.

Bad Confidential Disclosures

Another company had a great idea for a car security device. I drafted a provisional patent application for them.

I found out later that they were printing details about their invention and handing them out to potential investors. They had been doing this for a while.

This made a number of red-flags go off in my head. Of course, they need investors to launch the business, but the way they went about it didn’t protect their intellectual property in the best way.

You absolutely need to protect the details of your invention before you have a patent application on file. This includes what you disclose to potential investors. My suggestion is to have confidentiality tagged throughout any presentation that you give, or better yet, have the potential investors sign Non-Disclosure Agreements.

At the very least, the wrong potential investor could take your idea and give it to the competition.

Wrong Copyright Strategy

Everyone wants the roll in statutory damages during copyright litigation. They range from $2,500 – $250,000.

Those are big numbers.

But in order to get that, you need to register your artistic work for copyright within three months of first publication. Otherwise, these potential damages are lost forever.

Or, if someone publishes your unpublished work without your consent, then you decide to register your copyright. Well, you’ll also lose the statutory damages when you sue the person who published your work. Then, it becomes a breach of contract situation and your damages will be much, much lower.

I’ve seen this happen in a copyright litigation. Don’t let this happen to you – talk to an intellectual property attorney!

The reasoning behind all this is because Copyright Law favors an early registration of your artistic work.

My business startup consultant assistance runs the gambit of legal services, including when to file for a corporate entity and developing intellectual property strategies and portfolios.

Here’s a good story of someone I helped launch her small business.

A dental hygienist came to me with an idea that could revolutionize the work of dental hygiene.

She explained to me where she was in developing a prototype. Our first goal was to get a provisional patent application on file. I helped her draft one.

We were also worried about the potential prior art (previous similar inventions) and competition. I advised her on the state of the Prior Art and she came back with even an improvement which helped her further separate herself from the competition and that we put into the provisional patent application.

A provisional patent application gives you a year. I advise people to use that time to set their business up. For her, we filed a corporate entity. She also developed her prototype and hired a plastics engineer to create her vision.

We’re on the right track. I have confidence that her small business will do well. At least I helped walk her through the intellectual property minefield.

What is the best intellectual property strategy for your business?

There is one. You need an experienced attorney to help you start your business.

Maybe it’s filing a patent application, but which kind? Each has its own benefits and drawbacks. Some might be a total waste of time and money. No business can afford that, let alone yours.

Maybe you want to file a trademark registration. Again, it might be a total waste of time and money. Have you done a proper search yet? Are you using your mark in commerce yet? If no, you might be setting yourself up for disappointment.

For example, one trademark registration client filed registrations for two trademarks. She got one trademark approved for registration, but not the other. I advised her to do a branding overhauls on her website to make sure that the mark is properly used in commerce.

You might need to alter your business plan if your product or invention changes. In fact, I think that’s likely to happen. You might not get the patent that you’re hoping for, or perhaps a competitor beats you to market. You’ll need to distinguish yourself.

This is why I take the holistic portfolio approach to intellectual property. There are a lot of potential strategies for every entrepreneur and inventor.

Services that I can provide:

• Business Planning Consultation
• Startup consultation
• Writing a business plan
• Walking you through the intellectual minefield
• Corporate Filings (at least in New York)

So you want to start a business?

You’ll need contracts and an attorney to review the contracts.

You’ll need a corporate entity. This protects you from personal liability in case the business falters. You’ll need to protect the company’s intellectual property when it starts to develop. In short, you need startup business consultant.