IP for new startup

Hi there,
That is an interesting venture indeed. The idea is novel. You may have copyright or patent in the software you have created for this online transportation marketplace. We need to glean more information on the software that you have created to advise you further on whether it could be protected under patent rights (that is ideal as that right is more wide than copyright). Another IP right you should consider is the protection of the trademark/brand used for your marketplace.

All this may sound like jargon to you right now but since I am based in Malaysia, we can meet up in KL to advise you in more detail. Do not worry about fees, as you will not be charged for any preliminary advice.

Geetha

You need to define what is valuable and thus need protecting, whether copyright for the software, design UX for the interface, secrets for any algorithms. Each has different costs-benefits, especially in enforcement so then it comes down to business judgement whether worth the effort at different business/funding stages. For example, with B2B the key is actually contracts with participants so getting good lawyers would be wiorth it. For appFacing, preventing competitors from cloning the UX may require not just registration but hiring people to actively look for clones and send nastygrams. As you see, govts provide legal recourse for the extreme cases but startups have to rely on self-help and aligning with interests of customers.