Lately, a few of my start up clients have encountered hang-ups related to intellectual property. Intellectual Property is the bundle of rights and privileges associated with trademarks (names and logos), copyrights (works of art, music, literature) or patents (inventions and secret formulas). Whenever a business is deciding to choose a trade name, it is imperative to conduct a thorough search to determine if someone else already has intellectual property rights associated with the prospective name.
Sadly, it is often very difficult to make changes to a logo or name once the business is rolling along. The best strategy is to create an original name and identity from the beginning.