When launching a new product, protecting your intellectual property (IP) is crucial to safeguarding your innovation and maintaining a competitive edge.
Intellectual property covers creations of the mind, such as inventions, designs, and brand names, and ensuring these are properly protected can prevent others from copying or profiting from your ideas without permission. In this article, we’ll explore various strategies for securing your IP during the product launch process, including patents, trademarks, and non-disclosure agreements, as well as practical tips for managing and enforcing your rights effectively.
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Sarah Butler, Partner, Holding Redlich
“Protecting your intellectual property (IP) is essential to safeguarding your innovations and maintaining a competitive edge when launching a new product.
“The first step is to identify the types of IP, such as patents, trade marks, designs, copyright, and trade secrets, relevant to your product.
“For inventions or unique processes, filing a patent application can help prevent others from replicating your product. Trade mark registration is also vital for protecting your brand identity, including product names, logos or slogans associated with the product. For physical products, consider applying to register a design right.
“If you need to disclose trade secrets, or sensitive or confidential information about your product to third parties (such as manufacturers, partners, or employees), consider using non-disclosure agreements to protect those rights.
“It is also important to document the product’s development at every stage to establish clear ownership. This will be particularly important if you plan to sell your business in the future.
“Another consideration is where your product will be available. If your product will be available internationally, you should explore global IP protection as laws and regulations vary by country.
“Based on our experience, identifying and protecting your IP early is critical.”
Marcelo Dantas, Chief Information Officer at Automic Group
“At Automic Group, protecting intellectual property (IP) is fundamental when launching new products and to safeguard existing ones, including our Invana share registry platform, trusted by over 1,400 ASX-listed and unlisted clients.
“Our approach starts with strict contracts for all supplier engagements, which include perpetual confidentiality clauses and clear IP ownership definitions. Non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) are standard practice to protect sensitive information, and our employee agreements also enforce confidentiality. We implement strict access controls and IP storage monitoring from the outset of product development, securing our platforms and strictly managing access to prevent unauthorised breaches.
“Collaboration with external partners is key to innovation, but we ensure any shared information is protected through thorough vetting and the use of controlled devices and platforms for auditability. When needed, we work in isolated environments to protect our source code.
“Prioritising IP protection from the outset is crucial. Secure your data, enforce confidentiality through robust contracts, and safeguard your platforms to prevent vulnerabilities and protect your innovations.”
Rachel Kidwell, CEO, TCPinpoint
“Protecting intellectual property (IP) is one of the many vital steps required when launching TCPinpoint. From day one, I knew that keeping us safe was like guarding a secret family recipe – absolutely essential if we wanted potential customers to take us seriously. Money was tight, so we got creative. Enter the Export Market Development Grant (EMDG) – a one-for-one Federal funding program that helped us lock in trademark protection in Australia, the US, and other countries through the Madrid Protocol. It felt like a win-win: we kept our precious brand safe and didn’t break the bank.
“But we didn’t stop at trademarks. We took a discerning approach and were cautious. Let’s face it, I didn’t know what I didn’t know as a first time (non-techical) Founder. For our top-secret sauce, we leaned on confidentiality agreements and kept access on a strict “need-to-know” basis. We also snapped up the domain name variations and social media accounts because who wants their customers to accidentally visit a doggy knock off site?! Contracts were another layer of armor. This is where curiosity comes in. Leaning into trusted advisors and developing Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) and clear contractor agreements made sure any brainwaves created on our watch stayed ours.
“For startups, juggling IP protection and growth can feel like spinning plates, but programs like the EMDG can help with funding those activities. Lean on experienced advisors and a trusted lawyer – who won’t break the bank with some basic IP protection. With a bit of strategy and a lot of hustle, we protected what we could afford while launching a new product.
“Takeaways for fellow founders:
- Be Creative! Make grant funding your best friend.
- Be Cautious! Lock IP ownership down with contracts.
- Be Curious! Cover all your (known) bases and ask lots of questions to uncover more.”
Rolf Howard, Managing Partner, Owen Hodge Lawyers
“Often the most valuable part of a new product is the idea behind the product itself. The intellectual property (IP) underpinning your product is what makes it distinctive, marketable and competitive. This is why it’s so important to protect your IP when launching a new product to market.
“Begin by identifying your unique IP assets, which could include inventions, brands, logos, designs or artworks.
“Secure these assets by filing for patents (legally protects your invention or how something works), trade marks (legally protects your brand), and design rights (legally protects the overall appearance of your product) with IP Australia.
“Copyright works a little differently. It is automatically assigned to original works of art and literature, music, films, sound recording, broadcasts and computer programs to protect the owner from unauthorised copying and other uses.
“To protect your IP, you can enforce your rights by monitoring the market and taking action against infringers.
“It’s crucial to document your product’s development and seek professional advice from IP lawyers or attorneys along the way. Utilising resources like IP Australia’s website can provide further guidance.”
Peter Curran, Founder & Business Development Manager, Digital Surfer
“One area businesses often forget about when launching or launching a new product is securing domain and handle name rights, not just their legal IP. Whether it’s your actual business name or unique product names, ensuring you own the domains for them in each country you ever plan to roll out in, as well as the social media handles, will ensure you don’t have any restrictions down the track.
“We’ve been building websites for businesses for over a decade now, and it’s quite common to see businesses who are years old who either haven’t claimed their domain, have the problem that someone else has bought it, or they have built their website with an agency who owns their domain and is holding it ransom. Same with social media platforms. Many are often surprised to know over half of Australian small businesses don’t have a website, but it’s never been more important when we’re well and truly in the digital age.”
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