We all have ideas throughout our lives. Some could be business ideas; and very few will be feasible and lucrative ideas. “That is why, when you think you have one of these great ideas, it is best to act according to the first rule of Humanism: protect your loved ones (and yours) and then go hunting”, says a lawyer specializing in technology and intellectual and industrial property, and promoter and legal adviser of the program to help entrepreneurs of the INLEA Foundation.
He proposes 5 phases to protect what is yours, and then go out to “hunt for your success”:
1. Make your idea tangible: Copyright. Ideas are intangible, so they cannot be protected. I usually recommend that entrepreneurs write their idea in detail in a document as if it were a process, a product or a service. Copyright protects the way in which the idea is expressed in detail; but be careful, it does not protect the idea. So it is not always recommended and it would be appropriate to seek advice from an intellectual property professional.
2. Tangible protection: Patent. Once a document has been written detailing all the characteristics of your idea, which may or may not be protected by copyright, you would have to write the source code or algorithm that will be used by a machine or computer. If the idea can already perform a mechanical function on a certain machine or computer, the idea can be patented. To patent, it is best to receive advice from professionals in industrial property.
3. The name of the idea: The brand. I often tell entrepreneurs that copyright and patents protect them, but they still don’t fully protect their ideas. Why your ideas are incomplete: they must be salable. The first step to selling any idea is to highlight it in the market. So you need a name, a denomination, which is protected by trademark registration at a national, community or international level, depending on the growth perspective that the business has, and obviously, on the initial budget.
4. Commercial protection: Contracting know-how. The next step is preparing the idea to make it profitable. That is, develop the business plan, get capitalist partners, and develop production and marketing. Therefore, it is advisable to protect yourself through contracts with partners, suppliers, customers and distributors. Entrepreneurs often forget that the best protection for their ideas is in the contracts they sign when they sell or exploit their ideas. If possible, the most appropriate thing would be to sell the ideas through contracts that include supply and advice that allows a broader exploitation over time.
5. Professional advice. The protection of ideas and their phases must always be subject to review by one or more professionals who are familiar with the economic legal environment of the business idea sector, and who know how to use the legal tools available to achieve your objective.
