How to Protect Founder’s Stake Through Trademark Licensing
*REVIEWED 29th AUGUST, 2021*
How to Protect Founder’s Stake Through Trademark Licensing
Founding a business is a huge task. It demands a lot of intellectual efforts, time and money. That is why many entrepreneurs are usually emotionally attached to their start-up.
Knowing how to structure your business and protect your stake as the business expands is a skill that you must learn. You may not continue to have a hold on the business as it grows because it takes a community to raise a child. In essence, you (as the founder) may need to open up the business to third parties for their involvement so that the business can grow and remain healthy. However, there are ways you can protect your stake in the business early enough before the brand becomes a household name.
One of the ways that you can protect your stake as a founder is by licensing certain properties to the company that you founded. It could be tangible properties (e.g., landed properties) or intangible property (e.g., ownership of intellectual property).
Upon licensing property to the company, you can claim a premium for the use of the property and as the company grows, you will be able to claim royalty too.
This article focuses on trademark licensing as one of the creative ways to protect your founder status in the business. So, how do you protect your founder’s stake through trademark licensing? First, you would have to register and own the trademark in your name after which you can license the trademark to the company through a licensing agreement.
The terms of use of the trademark can be exclusive (such that only the company can use the trademark), non-exclusive (that is, you reserve the right to license the trademark to any other entity or person) or a sole license (i.e., the company can use the trademark and you as the owner can also use it). Once a licensing agreement is done with the company, the company may thereafter apply to the trademark registry as the registered user of the mark. Our article on
7 Ways I.T. Professionals (and Others at Large) Can Protect their Ideas from Pirates gives suggestions on ways to protect your intellectual property as an I.T professional
There are numerous other ways to protect your founder's stake in a business. We discussed those other creative ways in our book THE JOURNEY (Ideation to Business). You can get a copy by dialing Olumide +247040092804 or purchase on amazon. If you'd like to know what registration of business in Nigeria entails you can read our article on Important things to know about registration of business in Nigeria.