Week One: Patent the Idea

Have an idea for a new product or service? Your first thought might be to protect it. That’s where Intellectual Property comes in.

Intellectual property is one of the easier tools for providing a competitive advantage. For technological improvements, it is especially important. Why?

1. Patents typically offer the strongest form of intellectual property protection to ward off competitors.
2. The ability to patent your new product or service is time-limited – if you don’t file your patent application early enough, you might forever lose the ability to patent that invention.

In this week’s course, we will discuss how an entrepreneur should think about patent protection for an invention, including why patents are important, how to determine the likelihood of obtaining a commercially valuable patent on your concept, and how to strategically engage in the patent application process when you have limited capital resources.

Watch the Live Q&A

Tune in July 17 at 1-2 P.M. EST to get your questions answered and to ask more:

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Videos to watch this week

The Experts

Ben Stasa from Brooks Kushman

Things to consider

Have questions? Ask them! We’ll cover questions posted here in our live chat. Some specifics to think about might be:

• How do I know if my invention is patentable?
• Do I need to have built a prototype before I talk to a patent attorney?
• How much will getting a patent cost me?
• I’ve heard that software is not patentable any longer, is that true?