The world of trademarks and patents can be very confusing. Our guest on our latest podcast is going to remove that confusion.

If you are an entrepreneur, business owner, or inventor, you run into questions about trademark and patents all the time. What does common law cover when it comes to trademarks? How much does it cost? What kinds of brand and product essentials should be trademarked? Patents are a whole different ballgame. But a patent, especially a provisional one, may not be as big a hurdle as you might think.

On this episode, we talk with Matthew Leaper, a true expert in trademark and patent law. He answers all the above questions and more and talks us through the various ways to monetize your intellectual property once a trademark is received and a patent is approved.

Matthew Leaper is an attorney with Smart & Biggar/Fetherstonhaugh, one of Canada’s premier intellectual property law firms. Matthew works with innovators to refine and protect their ideas, having learned best practices from some of the best intellectual property firms in the U.S. and Canada. He has worked to zealously serve some of the most IP-oriented, innovative companies in the world.

From these experiences and capabilities, he has developed subject matter expertise in numerous technical areas, and become highly skilled at generating value from that expertise. He has worked closely with inventors and business managers to draft patent applications. These cover a wide range of technologies including diagnostic sensors; energy efficiency technologies; laser technologies and applications; manufacturing methods; medical devices and implants; non-invasive surgical technologies; and software applications, including artificial intelligence and machine learning.

This episode is for informational and entertainment purposes only and is not to be construed as legal advice.

what you will learn in this episode:

• • How trademarks protect brand identity
  • Tools to research trademarked names through TESS
  • The cost and process of registering a trademark
  • When to go the “free” route and when to register a trademark
  • The scope and limitations of a patent
  • The strategies to understand in filing a provisional patent
  • How prototyping fits into patent development
  • Why some products can be protected by both trademarks and patents
  • How the geographic scope of your patent can affect your licensing strategy
  • Intangible values of having a patent