It’s a well-known fact in the business world: Your company assets are only as good as your ability to protect them. This is especially true where intellectual property is concerned. Whether it’s your company name, logo, latest invention or best-selling product, it’s imperative that you take certain steps to secure your ownership rights.
We will explore seven types of key assets in this step:
- Website Address
- Trademarks
- Copyrights
- Patents
- Provisional Applications for Patents
- Inventor's Logs
- Confidentiality Agreements
Types of Key Assets
Website Address (domain name)
More than ever, businesses are turning to the web for both retail opportunities and online marketing. Key to establishing a website presence is securing a website domain name for your business. (An example of a domain name is startupnation.com)
There are a number of low-cost web services that will not only register your domain name, but also set up email and websites for you, complete with e-commerce capabilities.
If you have a unique name for your company or product, be sure to immediately register it. If you discover someone else has already claimed the name you want, don’t be discouraged. Often entrepreneurs allow their domain name registration to expire or are willing to sell their name to you at a reasonable price. Most domain name registration services provide contact information for domain name owners or offer a way to bid on domain names that are up for sale.