When drafting contracts, also pay attention to medium- to long-term effects that extend beyond the immediate operational intent. Intellectual property (IP) rights in particular are often neglected. Have rights to your ideas, inventions, concepts and trademarks effectively protected. Patent and trademark law, but also other IP rights, serve this purpose. You can have utility models protected and even your product design (design patents and registered designs).
The primary goal is to prevent third parties from copying your ideas, inventions, concepts and trademarks and causing you economic damage. But it is also about recognizing whether your ideas, inventions, concepts and trademarks may infringe the rights of others. In any case, it is worthwhile conducting a solid analysis of the legal situation and your options at an early stage.
If you define a property right very precisely, you run the risk that competitors will be able to implement their own business idea very close to your property right. If you define your property right broadly, the protection can become expensive. Also consider in which countries you would like to have your rights protected. Which are the interesting and relevant markets that you really want to develop with your resources?
But think further: If you are planning a big hit with your business approach, have rights protected for the entire field surrounding your business area so that you have development opportunities.
Often, however, acquiring IP rights simply takes too long to give you competitive protection. In such cases, it is more appropriate to create protection-like facts through activities in the market. For example, you could create a de facto standard through which you secure advantages. This is especially successful for large companies that can influence markets.
The quality of the management of industrial property rights, especially patents, trademark rights and utility model rights, has a significant influence on the value of companies.