IP services for start-ups

 
Even as big players in the country are trying to catch up with the trend, small firms and start-ups, often cannot afford IP departments of their own which leads to additional overhead expenses. Hiring external agencies are also expensive. Having experienced the struggles of a start-up themselves — Brain League IP Services — an intellectual property services provider has developed special packages for knowledge driven start-ups. The firm said it costs companies around US$75,000 for a US patent and around Rs 50,000-Rs 1 lakh for an Indian patent, and claimed that it can bring down the cost of processing the US patent by 50-60 per cent, while also providing cost effective services for Indian patents.

Speaking to Deccan Herald, Brain League Chief Knowledge Officer Kalyan Chakravarthy K, observed that the need for patents and IP protection is a key area for start-ups. He said that besides protecting their knowledge assets, patenting would be useful for companies in terms of valuation for business decisions such as mergers and acquisitions, investments or sell-offs.

Laying emphasis on the need to look at patents and IP protection from outside of legal set up, such as, making it cost effective and closer to a firm’s business model, he said “Often law firms only give the clients off the shelf solutions. However, at Brain League, we try and bring together technology, management and law so that there is optimisation to the client.”

Special offers

Talking about special packages, he said that his company has three different models specially developed for such firms, besides a blanket 20 per cent discount for financially weaker companies. The three models include equity model, deferred payment model and IP optimisation model.

In equity model, Brain League does not charge in monetary terms, but acquire an equity (of the IP, not the firm) in the range of 5-20 per cent, the deferred payment and optimisation model allows its clients to pay 20 per cent of the overall charge initially and pay the rest as the gain momentum.

Warranting Brain Leagues services and intentions, NextBit Computing Limited, (a client) Chief Executive Officer Vishal Borker said “As a start up company we tend to focus on business and overlook IP aspects of the business. But, it is necessary to focus on IP to remain cometent, and that is where a firm like Brain League assume importance.”