What are typical legal pitfalls for seed-stage startups?

質問

In your view, what are the top legal mistakes that tech startups repeatedly make but that would be easy to avoid? I'm very interested in hearing from your practical experience.

回答: 1 公開 & 1 非公開

Karl means
弁護士

As a corporate and IP attorney I've worked with a lot of tech startups, and right off the top of my head I can name at least 2 mistakes these companies make time and time again.
First, the founders fail to document the deal they have among themselves, and neglect the basic business paperwork like LLC operating agreements, or shareholders agreements. These are the documents that control how the company will operate, who is responsible for what, and most importantly who owns how much of the company. If there's a falling out among the founders (and sometimes among the first employees as well) but no one bothered to write anything down, the resulting business divorce will be extremely messy. Rule # 1 is document the deal you have with your business partners.
Second, tech startups often fail to adequately protect their technology. This means not only the appropriate IP registrations (patents, copyrights, etc.). It also means protecting the company's trade secrets and other proprietary information through documents like employment agreements, invention assignments and nondisclosure agreements. You would be amazed at the competitive advantages that are lost because a company is not sufficiently protective of its proprietary technology. Rule #2 is protect your assets.
I'm sure there are other pitfalls. Those are the 2 that immediately come to mind.

最近の質問

Do people really steal invention ideas?

I sometimes see questions on forums like Quora about how to stop people stealing your invention i...

4 5386 2
Is interpretation of known historical facts protectable under copyright law?

I am looking for useful sources on protecting copyright. I am in the process of writing a book ba...

3 6116 2
Fair Use and news feeds

What is the current wisdom on compiling news feeds on a third party website so far as copyright i...

1 3962 0
Looking for good patent firm

How to find a good patent firm to help me apply patent in USA

3 4320 2
What constitutes 'prior disclosure'?

This might be a silly question but I’m a bit confused by ‘prior disclosure’ as it applies to pate...

2 4824 1

発明や知的財産について質問はありますか?
既存の質問を検索するか、専門家ディレクトリで専門家に直接お問い合わせ下さい。
(このページでは、新規の公開質問は受け付けておりません。)