Dana Shultz is an attorney in Piedmont, California who sees startups fall into the same intellectual property traps time and time again. For example, one of the biggest mistakes that entrepreneurs make is contracting out development work without first ensuring the proper agreements are in place to grant ownership of the final product to the startup company. The entrepreneur may be unpleasantly surprised to learn that the contractor, and not the startup, owns the finished goods!

Further, entrepreneurs would do well to consider the intellectual property assets they have beyond patents or potential patents. Copyrights, trademarks and service marks and trade secrets are also part of the patent portfolio. Take the time to expressly identify what ideas, processes and concepts constitute your trade secrets and use non-disclosure agreements to protect them.