Intellectual Property Protection Strategies for Biotechnology Innovations

Intellectual property (IP) provides certain tools to secure and maintain a competitive advantage, enabling you to develop and implement a strategy to protect your technology from imitators. It is imperative for biotechnology entrepreneurs and company leaders to understand the classic legal tools of IP—patents, trademarks, and copyrights—and take advantage of pertinent rights stemming from regulatory laws and the principles protecting trade secrets. To avoid disputes over ownership rights and relative responsibilities, your start-up company should establish upfront the most appropriate contractual relationships with employees and independent contractors, as well as with the companies and universities with which you'll be partnering. Our advice is to develop relationships with creative professionals whom you task with keeping abreast of the ever-changing domestic and international legal landscape and engage them as trusted advisors to counsel you on strategic lawyering.