Intellectual Property for Your Business: How to protect your ideas and products

Intellectual Property for Your Business: How to protect your ideas and products

with WiSys VentureHome Eau Claire + Ruder Ware

Atty. Derek Prestin of Ruder Ware will give a presentation on types of legal protections for intellectual property, their benefits, and their limitations followed by a question and answer session with Derek & Ray French, Regional Associate at WiSys.

Overview:

An important, and in some cases, central asset of your business is the intellectual property (IP) that you use every day without realizing it. The value of this intellectual property may not always be your primary focus in the day-to-day operations of your business, at least until problems or issues arise. Some of these issues can be avoided or minimized through the effective use of intellectual property laws. In this presentation, you will learn the basic types of legal protections for intellectual property, their benefits, and their limitations.

Format:

• 20-30 minute presentation on IP- Atty. Derek Prestin, Ruder Ware
• Up to 60 minutes of Question and Answer- Atty. Derek Prestin & Ray French, WiSys

Key Takeaways:

• Learn the basic types of legal protection for IP
• Benefits of legal protections for IP
• Limitations of legal protections for IP
• Bring questions, and have your needs addressed!

This program is specifically geared towards entrepreneurs with Intellectual Property and questions about protecting it.

About our Presenters:

Derek Prestin has a range of expertise and experience unique in Northern Wisconsin. He counsels and advises clients on intellectual property law, business law, real estate law, and state and local regulations and ordinances, addressing issues before problems arise.

As a patent attorney and former patent agent, Derek helps clients protect their ideas from unauthorized use by others. He also assists businesses and their owners with legal issues surrounding setting up, operating, and expanding businesses. In addition, he aids those who own or lease commercial real estate. His experience has been invaluable in representing developers and landowners involved in the recent frac sand boom in western Wisconsin, including real estate purchases, sand leases, and state and local regulations and ordinances.

In the area of intellectual property, Derek helps inventors, developers and owners of intellectual property:

• Protect their inventions through the preparation and prosecution of patent applications in front of the Patent Office.
• Protect their ideas through non-disclosure and confidentiality agreements.
• Protect and retain their trademarks and tradenames.
• Protect or retain rights in copyrighted materials.

He also counsels and advises individuals and businesses on patent, trademark, copyright, and general intellectual property issues that arise as part of the operation of a business.

In the areas of business and real estate law, Derek:

• Helps individuals start up new businesses and address issues that may arise, particularly when there are multiple owners.
• Advises businesses on contracts and agreements related to their operations and other commercial transactions, such as service agreements and vendor agreements.
• Advises businesses and business owners on the purchase, sale, or transfer of a business or its assets.
• Helps owners or lessees of commercial real estate with the development, leasing, or sale of commercial real estate.
• Helps developers purchase or lease land with nonmetallic mineral deposits.
• Helps developers of sand mines and processing facilities with state and local regulatory and ordinance filings and analysis.
• Helps landowners adequately protect their interests when leasing or transferring mineral rights to others.

Ray French is the WiSys Regional Associate serving the Western Wisconsin comprehensive UW System campuses. He works with faculty, staff, and students on innovative projects and their commercialization. Ray is also an experienced Economic Development Finance Professional in the Chippewa Valley, working with small businesses and entrepreneurs on their growth and expansions. He graduated with a B.S. in Psychology from UW-Eau Claire in 2008, his J.D. from Hamline University School of Law in 2012, and his Masters in Public Administration from Hamline in 2013.