Introduction to Intellectual Property (IP) and Strategy for Your Business

Having an Intellectual Property (IP) strategy is extremely vital when launching a new business. New ventures put most of their efforts and resources into marketing plans, investment capital, prototypes, software development and SEO strategies, while protecting IP assets are at the bottom of their priority list.

Eagerness to put products/services into the market takes precedence over fundamental steps of identifying, procuring, protection and asserting IP assets. Failure to take these steps may cause IP assets to lose their value or become unintentionally abandoned, which often proves fatal for a start-up business.

This course will serve as an introduction to IP and introduce steps in developing an effective IP strategy. Topics covered include:

· Why having an IP strategy is crucial & should be included in initial business plan to ensure alignment with a company’s short- and long-term business objectives.

· What are patents and why they are important to protect ideas and inventions.

· Discover how Federally Registered Trademarks protect words, symbols designs & slogans that are used to identify source of goods or services.

· How copyrights are so vital for the protection of most valued creative works.

· The importance of using a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) prior to meeting with manufacturers, investors, or buyers to protect a company’s proprietary information.

Presenter: John Maldjian, Esq., founding member of Maldjian Law Group LLC in Tinton Falls, N.J. with more than 25 years of IP law experience, both in private practice and as an in-house IP counsel.