Almost ninety percent of start-ups fail within their initial five years in India. With the opposites stacked against them, they require nearly everything to fall into place to be successful, including the IP (intellectual property) rights.
A start-up is primarily a disrupter. It hinders an existing market through offering more convenient service, a service at a lower cost, or both. Every start-up that enters a market believes it has a sui generis and distinguished strategy that no one else has. At the centre of every start-up, strategy is generally a technology and a clever name or appealing logo.
The technology at the nub of the start-up, until or unless patented, can result in its failure.
IP (intellectual property) is essential for start-ups.
One of the efficient ways a start-up can succeed against the more prominent competitors is to patent its inventions and innovations. Patents offer the level playing field betwixt start-ups and incumbents by ensuring that those who innovate will be sufficiently rewarded.
When a start-up patents its ideas, the valuation of start-ups goes up, and it potentially attracts new investors. This is because investors are more inclined to obtain a start-up who has done the trademark registration, hold patent rights for the designs and copyrights its intellectual assets.
When a start-up patents its ideas, it is the only entity allowed to create services and products using its patents. It would enable it to create unique services and products that have a good chance of getting success in the market, thereby increasing the profit.
Unless a start-up projects its designs, patents, and trademarks using IP (intellectual property) rights, its competitors can imitate them and snatch market share. Thus, patenting technologies and ideas are crucial to the success of the start-up.
IP (intellectual property) rights are a crucial reason for the many innovations around us. Disruptive start-ups are challenging incumbents with patented technology ideas. IP (intellectual property) rights are also a fundamental reason behind the success of the Indian start-up ecosystem.
IP (intellectual property) rights enable a start-up that has developed an innovative device to compete efficiently against large companies once its invention has been patented.
If a start-up has sui generis unpatented invention, many competitors can easily imitate, market, and manufacture it, effectively ruling out its effort to create the invention. Thus, patents also safeguard smaller start-ups against larger competitors that have far greater resources.
A start-up journey to success.
Successful start-ups either receive significant funding enabling them to enlarge, or they take the public route. Start-ups with patented technology also given them an upper edge during the engagement with investors for possible funding.
Companies are inclined to invest in start-ups with distinguished patents as it offers them access to the technology behind the patents, if not outright proprietorship of the patents themselves. That’s why protecting patents is one of the best ways a start-up can attract investors.
Once a start-up has been allocated a patent, it can utilise the technology behind it for two decades without apprehension that others might imitate it. The patented technology is also potentially leading to the development of new technologies based on the original patent.
Thus, a patented technology raises the chance a start-up obtains more patents and the likelihood that its value would increases. A start-up with a single valuable patent can obtain many more quickly, making it more appealing to the investors.
The investment made in the technology that provides a start-up an advantage over the incumbents and others is always remarkable. Yet, unless patented, such technology is fair game to all the parties.
Trademarks enlarge to logos. The logo of every start-up is vital to its brand’s success. Unless a start-up trademarks its logo, it might discover unethical companies imitating its logo and snatching its customers.
By trademarking the logo of a start-up ensures the brand’s integrity and that everyone who intends to purchase its product or services can make a wise decision.
Apart from trademarks and patents, start-ups also can use other forms of intellectual property protection for their business and increase its market share. Protection is also offered to start-ups in the form of design registration and trade secrets.
Taking advantage of intellectual property by a start-up is a suggestion and is compulsory for its success and growth in the market.
