This is an Ask Sal podcast episode, where you submit your questions and I answer them!
Today’s question is about IP (intellectual property). How much time should you spend worrying about IP? How should you market your product when you don’t yet have a patent?
I cover this and more in today’s reply.
Let me preface this by saying that I’m not a lawyer and this reply is just my opinion. I recommend consulting a lawyer if you want accurate answers to questions about IP.
Josh Elsom asked:
“Hey Sal, my name is Josh Elsom. I’m from Texas, just south of Dallas, and first let me say thank you so much for the podcast and the blog and the website. It’s a treasure trove of information and I’ve probably listened to most of the podcasts already.
I’m several months out from launching a Kickstarter campaign and I’m interested in starting my pre-campaign publicity and email gathering, but I found myself in sort of a position where I don’t feel like I can do that well because first of all, my prototype is not yet complete and I’m worried that while doing some of this publicity that I might compromise my intellectual property. I’m not yet protected by a patent.
So, I’m curious, how would a person in my position go about promoting the campaign while at the same time not giving out too much information that would compromise the security of my IP.”
Now that I re-read the question, I didn’t answer it entirely. I went on a bit of a sidetrack on the value of IP, but I hope the episode was helpful!
Links and Resources Mentioned:
- BackerKit helps crowdfunders with the survey and order fulfillment process. Don’t buried in spreadsheets and manual data entry!
- KickstarterForum
