Faculty Scholarship

Authors

Jon GaronFollow

Document Type

Book Chapter

Publication Date

January 2018

Abstract

This article is part of a series of book excerpts from The Entrepreneur’s Intellectual Property & Business Handbook, which provides the business, strategy, and legal reference guide for start-ups and small businesses. Manufacturing is the most common realm for process innovation and efficiency goals. Patents allow manufacturers to maintain extended exclusivity in their products. Trade secrets protect the methods of creating the products and the inside know-how on the best way to get the job done. Copyright is useful to protect the text of the manuals, brochures, and other printed materials, diagrams, and tools that assist with the products. Finally, trademarks provide companies the tools to build product lines and create a strong presence among the purchasers regarding the company’s products and services.Service companies have no tangible products, so they have far fewer of the manufacturer’s tools available to build patent exclusivity. They must rely almost exclusively on trademarks to generate relevance, but they can also use copyrights and trade secrets to augment their core services.

Publication Title

The Entrepreneur’s Intellectual Property & Business Handbook

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