Intellectual Property Resolutions: Take Stock of Your IP Assets
Often people resolve in the New Year to take stock of their assets to see where they are in terms of not only protecting what they have but also to implement long-range planning and goals. While businesses may often check their status and progress against things like five-year plans, they should not forget to also take stock of their assets, especially Intellectual Property (“IP”) assets. IP assets can often be the most important assets to a business. Unfortunately, they can also be the most overlooked and under-protected.
With the new year upon us, this is an opportune time for businesses to audit their IP to make sure these important assets are secure by following these three steps:
- Identify all of a company’s IP in its various forms such as trademarks, copyright, trade secret and patents.
- Review those assets to ensure they are properly protected, including review of registration status, reviewing licenses and contractor agreements or non-disclosure agreements.
- Develop internal policies to make sure newly created IP is documented and protected as well as procedures to ensure secrecy of proprietary information.
Our Intellectual Property practice group is available to assist with auditing your IP assets and to devise IP protection plans. For more information, please feel free to contact me at mark.nieds@henlaw.com.
Business Law Resolutions
It’s that time of year when we all make New Year’s Resolutions to improve ourselves. From Henderson Franklin’s Business and Tax Practice, Erin Houck-Toll reminds us that as you make and implement your personal resolutions, don’t forget your business. This is a good time to review your business’ governing documents—bylaws, operating agreements, employment agreements and shareholder agreements—to ensure they still make sense, both in terms of current law and tax strategies, as well as how you are actually operating. If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at erin.houck-toll@henlaw.com.