News & Insights

As an entrepreneur, you put blood, sweat, and tears into your startup, not to mention your savings and investments of others. Strong branding is one of the things which will help your startup succeed in the first few years. As you put together your branding strategy, you have likely created a symbol or design for your logo and/or some type of slogan, catchphrase, or word to set yourself apart from your competition.

It’s crucial for you to trademark your creative marketing tools to prevent others from using them. Keep reading to learn exactly which items you could/should trademark, how to go about the application process, and why you should have a trademark attorney during the process. 

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Most entrepreneurs and creators get their start by asking a straightforward question, “how do I start a business?” Starting a business requires careful planning, risk tolerance, dedication, and vision. Working with the right business lawyers can make it easier. Once you have determined an initial idea for your business, it is essential to thoroughly evaluate the market in which you will be operating (if there is one), and discover how you can best contribute to, or disrupt it with, your business idea.

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Phantom Equity (“PE”) is a contractual agreement for a type of deferred compensation between a company and key employees, advisors, and/or contractors. Startups can offer PE to valuable employees, so they have skin-in-the-game, and thus, feel an urgency to help the startup become as successful as possible in the shortest amount of time.

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While many business owners know what a trademark (or “mark”) is, they may not know what the benefits of obtaining a federal registration are. This FAQ discusses the benefits of federal trademark registration.

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In the age of instant communication, it’s not easy to protect business ideas. Depending on what kind of information is accessible to others, there are several options available to protect business ideas from being stolen or copied by third parties. If you want to ensure that your business partners or employees do not misappropriate or share important business ideas or information with others, your best bet may be to create an employment agreement/independent contractor agreement and/or a non-disclosure or non-compete agreement that includes certain confidentiality obligations and restrictive covenants in them.

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An NDA is a binding agreement between two (or more) parties that obligates a party or parties to maintain confidentiality. The confidentiality obligations can be mutual or uni-directional (one-way). Other provisions include exceptions to confidentiality, how long the obligations last, and what happens if someone breaches their obligations. It is a widely used document and something many startups and small businesses will come across at least once. This document should be in your files and ready to use with prospective business partners, vendors, contractors, employees, and others if necessary.  

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