Don’t give away your intellectual property!

Very often, in the excitement of getting a contract you have been working on for a long time, and especially when you can see how you can leverage this contract into so much more revenue for your business, your guard goes down and you concede a lot that you would not normally give up.

This is especially true when it comes to your intellectual property. There are many business owners who don’t realize that the system they created, or the process they designed, is actually their intellectual property. It is! But it’s open for grabs if you have not registered or trademarked it, and you need to do that before you include it in a contract.?

Furthermore, you need to include specific language in any contracts you are negotiating in order to ensure that it remains your property or that you get adequately compensated for its use and possible appropriation by the person you are doing business with.

Here are five ways you can make sure to safeguard your intellectual property in contracts:

1.???? Be clear and specific. Include trademarks, patents, copyrights, trade secrets and even proprietary technology designs in the contract. Get agreement that any use of these without your express permission is a violation of the contract.

2.???? Anticipate what might be created and claim ownership of that. Include language in the contract that provides insight on the core deliverables and ancillary and supplementary designs or developments that might occur during the course of the contract.

3.???? Request that the contract require and adhere to non-disclosure agreements (NDAs). These should be signed by everyone who will be a part of the contract for the life of the contract and beyond.

4.???? Consider and review ideas related to licensing agreements. This can be an effective value-add to a contract, but it must be worked out before the contract is signed.?

5.???? Include dispute resolution clauses in your contracts. Be specific and intentional about what happens if a dispute arises related to the use, licensing, modification or creation of intellectual property during the life of the contract and beyond.

And finally, always include evaluation and audit procedures in your contracts. Have all parties agree to the timeframe, scheduling and reporting of these evaluations and audits before the contract is signed.

Remember, you don’t have to do this all yourself — there are resources available through my office and our international network that are available to you. ?

Contact me if you need some help thinking this through or if you want to hone your negotiation skills. I’m on a mission to help women business owners embrace creative thinking in business.

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