If you are a founder of a tech business, you are undoubtedly full of great ideas. In fact, great ideas are probably essential to make sure that you are constantly innovating to stay ahead of your competitors. But what do you have in place to stop your competitors from simply copying your ideas, and carving out part of your market share for themselves by undercutting you, or flooding the market with low quality copies? Perhaps you have a patent for the original tech. But are you staying on top of the new inventions as they emerge from your R&D team? The ultimate goal, of course, is to Protect your innovation. Grow with confidence.
At Strachan IP, we have developed a very simple framework for helping you to capture and protect the most valuable IP associated with your product line as you improve and expand it. Our IDEA framework can be summarised by a simple, memorable ‘cheat sheet’, which is just meant to remind you of what questions to ask yourself when thinking about how you can protect your revenue stream.
The IDEA Framework
It can help to start by asking yourself, why will our customers choose our product over our competitors’ offerings? And then, following the IDEA framework;
Invention – does your new product offer a technical improvement or advantage over what has been done before? If so, patent protection may be the best way to protect it.
Design – is your product aesthetically innovative? In other words, does it look better, or more recognisable than your competitors’ products? If so, it may be hugely valuable to register the design.
Expand – what other IP rights exist to bolster or support your patent or design protection? Valuable assets like copyright and trade secrets, for example, are often overlooked unless properly thought about as part of a formal(ish) invention harvesting and assessment process.
Advise – It is always a good idea to speak to a qualified Chartered Patent attorney once you have established what elements of a new product need to be protected. We can take you through the IDEA framework in more detail. And then we can decide together where the greatest potential value lies. But we can also help you to manage your existing IP portfolio to make sure that you are spending your IP budget where it will have the most impact.
Protect your innovation. Grow with confidence.
Whether you’re a first-time product developer or an established tech business that keeps innovating to stay ahead of your competitors, we can help. Please book a free initial consultation by visiting our website: https://strachanip.co.uk/contact/. Or emailing vicki.strachan@strachanip.co.uk or calling 07714797135. Alternatively, you can schedule something mutually convenient via our Calendly link: https://calendly.com/strachan-ip-a-fresh-view-of-intellectual-property/30min