Proceso de producción

Perhaps you’ve come up with a wonderful idea. Maybe you’ve invented something profound, the likes of which the world has never seen. Your immediate instinct upon making such a thrilling discovery is probably to protect it—to keep your idea or invention safe from those who could steal it. That reaction is natural; you can find plenty of stories of businesses that were hijacked by their competition. But the reality is that most entrepreneurs spend far too much time protecting their idea and not enough time perfecting it.

We’re living in the age of information, where ideas—even great ideas —are everywhere. You need only search the phrase “free business ideas” on the Internet to find tens of thousands of pages dedicated to the topic. From a website that ranks the quality of preschools to a smart fridge that automatically orders groceries, there are plenty of ideas floating around in cyberspace, just waiting for the right entrepreneur to come along and make them work. Because that’s really what it comes down to: execution.

For example, how many different barbecue sauces have been invented in the last decade? Ten? Fifteen? Twenty-five? Probably far more than that. Barbecue isn’t a new idea. And yet the founders of Pork Barrel BBQ, who appeared on Season Three of Shark Tank and struck a deal with Barbara Corcoran, have been able to do extremely well. Why is that? Is it the recipe? Perhaps. Was it their appearance on Shark Tank ? Maybe. But they were already in one hundred stores before going into the tank. Brett Thompson and Heath Hall, the founders of Pork Barrel BBQ, have succeeded not just because they had a great idea, but because they were able to execute it with creativity and precision.

For many entrepreneurs like Brett and Heath, protecting an idea isn’t essential. If you’re opening an ice cream shop, for instance, you probably shouldn’t spend countless resources protecting your recipe before you’ve even made your first batch. In fact, most business owners won’t ever need to devote significant time or money to protecting their idea, because most

businesses aren’t selling anything proprietary.

There are, however, specific types of businesses where protecting a product can make all the difference. If you feel as though some part of your business is proprietary, below are three of the most popular ways of protecting intellectual property:

Patent: Granted to an inventor by the United States government, a patent excludes others from “making, using, offering for sale, or selling the invention throughout the United States or importing the invention into the United States.” Not every idea is patentable. According to the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the laws of nature, physical phenomena, and abstract ideas cannot be patented. So, for example, it may be difficult to patent a piece of software that relies heavily on a mathematical algorithm. Patents generally range from fourteen to twenty years and carry with them various fees, depending on the specific kind of patent. While there are online resources to help inventors secure patents, the process can be exhausting and complicated. Most of the time it’s worth spending the extra money to hire an attorney who specializes in the process. You’ll learn more about patents later in this chapter.

Trademark: While a patent protects an idea, a trademark protects a brand or, more specifically, “a word, phrase, symbol, and/or design that identifies and distinguishes the source of the goods of one party from those of others.” If you need to protect a service instead of goods, you’d seek a service mark, which, although slightly different, is often also referred to as a trademark. A trademark can be owned or licensed and must be actively maintained through lawful use to avoid abandonment of the mark. Basically, use it or lose it.

Copyright: If a trademark protects a brand, a copyright protects the

content that brand creates or, according to the U.S. government, “works of authorship, such as writings, music, and works of art that have been tangibly expressed.” You know the warning that flashes on the screen before you watch a movie? That’s enforcing a copyright. What most

people don’t know is that you needn’t register a copyright for it to exist. A copyright is active from the very moment the content is created. You must register your copyright only if you want to go on record as the owner or you feel as though you may need to protect your copyright in a court of law. For most people, registering a copyright isn’t necessary.

“Entrepreneurs with unique products are wise to try to protect

themselves with a good patent. Often when a company is successful, a competitor will try to knock off the idea or replicate the business model. As an entrepreneur, you put so much time and energy into getting a product to market. It feels great to be able to protect it.”

While the majority of entrepreneurs will spend little time dealing with any of this, intellectual property should be understood and taken seriously. Infringing on another party’s intellectual property, even if accidental, can result in expensive punishment for you and your company —something many small business owners cannot afford to encounter. It’s possible to navigate intellectual property issues on your own, but hiring a professional is usually the better choice.