Welcome to Episode 59 of The Executive Edge podcast. This week’s guest is Devin Miller from Miler IP Law.

Devin is a patent and trademark attorney and I asked him on to the show because I was interested in when and how we need to protect our intellectual property. Devin did a great job of explaining the difference between the 3 main methods.

A patent protects a physical object that does something; it makes, fixes, or produces another object. Trade marks are used when you want to protect your brand, and copyright when you have created something e.g., a model, approach, or design.

My feeling is that many of us are solopreneurs, or we go in to business as start-ups but don’t think enough about two things: firstly, how to protect ideas or approaches we have, and secondly, what we ultimately want the business to be.

How does Devin help?

Devin’s business is very familiar with start ups as he loves them himself. He believes it’s better to check what your idea, design or process needs sooner, rather than later. If you wait too long other people can copy it and by default, devalue what you offer.

He also recognises that placing a patent on something within your business increases the value of it, enabling you to achieve a higher price should you ever wish to sell it.

The more we think about our future and what we want the business to be, the easier it is to decide when to chat to Devin so that he can help you decide what method is best for you. His free 15-minute chat will easily help you work out if you have something you need to protect, and in doing so you can increase the value of what you sell. You can contact him through www.milleripl.com.