Spending a lot of late nights with your startup colleagues developing a product with cutting-edge features can prove frustrating when those features end up in a competitor’s offering. At some point, once your startup begins to gain momentum, protecting your IP becomes yet one more thing to worry about. But it doesn’t have to be a nightmare — here’s a high-level overview of how to identify and protect new, potentially patentable inventions.
1. Check employment and independent contractor agreements
Look at your employment agreements — and agreements with independent contractors — to make sure that they have an obligation to assign their rights in any inventions that they develop in the course of their work to your company. If their agreements with you don’t explicitly obligate them to hand over those inventions, it may be difficult for you to obtain a patent on them, particularly if that employee or independent contractor no longer works for you.
To read the full, original article click on this link: 5 tips for entrepreneurs building a patent portfolio — Tech News and Analysis
