More Common I.P. Startup Mistakes

Dana Shultz highlights more potential pitfalls

In the second part of our interview, attorney Dana Shultz cautions entrepreneurs using open-source to fully understand the implications of the open-source license they use - "open-source" doesn't mean no rules whatsoever. And depending on the terms of the open-source license, startups may find that by incorporating open-source technology with their proprietary software, they've inadvertently turned their proprietary development into open-source.

We returned also to the question of outsourcing development, this time with a focus on off-shoring to China or India. Dana advises keeping the "family jewels" close to home and outsourcing only those parts of the development that don't represent the core of the business. In many parts of the world, protection for intellectual property is either poor or non-existent, or recourse to the law takes years - time that a startup doesn't have.