{"id":168567,"date":"2022-04-05T08:30:20","date_gmt":"2022-04-05T07:30:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/realbusiness.co.uk\/?p=168567"},"modified":"2024-03-28T05:49:06","modified_gmt":"2024-03-28T05:49:06","slug":"looking-investment-get-ip-order","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/realbusiness.co.uk\/looking-investment-get-ip-order","title":{"rendered":"Looking for Investment? Get Your IP in Order"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Get IP on the agenda<\/strong><\/p>\n

For many growing businesses, at the outset, intellectual property IP may not be at the top of the agenda. It can be challenging to get your head around and, at times, the exact benefit it\u2019s going to deliver is not always clear. Instead, the focus tends to be on growth, cash flow concerns and reputation building \u2013 all legitimate focus areas.\u00a0 But, as you look to the next stages of growth and seek investment, IP will become increasingly vital and getting to grips with it sooner rather than later will serve you well in the long run.<\/p>\n

IP, including patents, trademarks, copyright, and designs, lies at the heart of many businesses\u2019 success. Investors will expect to see their investments suitably protected and will need to be confident that they won\u2019t see the same product, brand or invention springing up elsewhere. Think about all of those people entering Dragon\u2019s Den only to be torn to shreds for not having protected their brand properly.<\/p>\n

When it comes to an exit scenario via a sale or IPO of the company, tremendous value can be placed on a well-protected brand and, weaknesses in such protection could ultimately result in a lower valuation.<\/p>\n

How IP protects your business<\/strong><\/p>\n

IP is also vital to protecting your business. Contracts with suppliers can often look harmless and very much \u2018on standard terms\u2019 but sometimes they contain no IP clauses at all which leaves ownership in doubt or, even worse, can give rights to third parties \u2013 an issue we have recently advised an early-stage company on. The company in question almost inadvertently transferred all IP rights in its food product to a manufacturer, simply because they hadn\u2019t read the \u2018standard terms\u2019 properly.<\/p>\n

We also see businesses seeing extensive delays to completion on investment rounds because of IP disputes and, in some cases, investors pull out as a result. A recent example involved advising an organisation that was about to complete an investment round, only for a potential trade mark dispute to hold up the deal. In the end, the investor requested a revaluation which really impacted the business and the investment they eventually got.\u00a0 The crux of it was, the business was worth less due to the risk of expensive litigation.<\/p>\n

Key steps to take<\/strong><\/p>\n

It can feel like a daunting and complicated process but there are key steps that can be followed to ensure you have suitable IP rights in place:<\/p>\n