You have a unique idea that you have created. You believe that your unique idea will be worth a lot of money. You have decided to start your own business, based off of this idea. However, you have no idea of where to begin. How do you start your own business? How do you protect others from stealing your unique idea? How do you provide your business idea to others as a service? How do you create a legal business, with paid employees and taxed income? These are a lot of the common questions that follow a great idea. It is important to complete the following steps in beginning to product and market your business idea.
Check for availability of patent. Just because you strongly believe that your idea is unique, this does not guarantee that it is. Some people may patent an idea to never put it into market. They may have put it off and then forgotten about it. They may have never gained the necessary capital to begin a business and sell it. It is important to research if anyone holds a patent or business involving your product, before you go any further with the business process.
Hire a patent attorney or intellectual property lawyer. If your search came up empty, then you will want to patent your product or intellectual property, as soon as possible. Patents protect products or physical ideas of items. Intellectual property protects ideas of words that are not physical. Patenting your product protects others from selling it.
Trademark attorney services can walk you through this important process. Also, by obtaining a patent, you are protecting yourself from others who claim that you stole their product idea. According to the Council of State Governments, the U.S. economy loses $58 billion each year to copyright infringement alone. That includes $16 billion in the loss of revenue to copyright owners and $3 billion in lost tax revenue.
Register a legal business. Once you have worked with trademark attorney services to obtain a patent on your product or idea, you will want to register a legal business. This involves creating a business name and then filing it with your city. You will be provided with a tax ID number and this is the name that you will do any business with, regarding your product idea. You can also complete this step first, if you desire for your patent to be in the name of the business. However, it is generally better to have the patent in your personal name, to protect your property in the event that your business closes down.
Design your company logo and business plan. You now have a registered business with a unique patent on a product that you believe can make you a lot of money. Now is the time to work with design patent law firms. Trademark attorney services can also help you to create a trademark symbol that notifies your customers and clients of your business. This trademark will be displayed onto your product in the future. The patent attorney services can help with all of these required tasks.
Continue to work with your trademark attorney services. One of the biggest mistakes that new businesses make is letting their patent expire. Most patents have expiration dates. This time allotted gives you time to make money on your product, before anyone else can come into the market. The same goes with intellectual property law.
If you patent your product and then fail to produce it, you may be losing valuable time. A utility patent term, for example, typically lasts 20 years and is measured from the application priority filing date. Copyright protection is for a limited term. For works created after January 1, 1978, copyrights last for 70 years after the death of the author.
It can be exciting to come up with a unique product idea that can make you a lot of money. However, it is important to follow these steps to ensure that your product idea is protected. If you do not obtain a patent on it and register it to a legal business, others may have the ability to take your idea and profit from it.