This article was originally published by New Designers.
Follow this link to read the
full article.
There's a lot to think about when launching a new product -
co-ordinating manufacturers, finding stockists and of course
marketing. Intellectual property is, perhaps understandably, not
front of mind at such a time. Frequently we see young, creative
companies failing to take the right steps to protect their IP at
the crucial moment and living to regret it later when lookalike
products appear in the marketplace.
This may be due, at least in part, to some common misconceptions
that exist around IP - not least that it is complicated and too
expensive to obtain. In fact, protecting the look of your product
is not as difficult or costly as many believe and, if done well and
at the right time, it can (and should) become a hugely valuable
asset to any business.
