With the exception of a handful of college students who start their new businesses  between mid-terms and dorm parties, most entrepreneurs  develop their start-up business ideas when they are employees of other companies.  If you are currently employed when you start your new venture, or even if you recently left a job to begin working on your new business, you must be careful not to run afoul of your former employer’s rights.  Otherwise, you may find yourself with an un-financeable company and, possibly, on the wrong side of a lawsuit. 

Once you have selected that exceptional company name that projects your new venture, there are at least three different processes to undertake in order to truly secure that name and have it become a brand.  If you only get one of those three name rights, you may not be able to garner all of the brand recognition your enterprise needs, and you may be competing with other businesses for claims to that outstanding name. 

With the technology community a-twitter over stories of patent trolls ravaging the start-up landscape,  runaway mobile patent wars, and blooming secondary IP markets, many early-stage entrepreneurs find themselves considering whether or not to seek patents around their technologies. But what are the real benefits of patents, and what kinds of things are even eligible for such protection?  The answer to both questions is: More than you might think.