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Womble Bond Dickinson Partner Cory Schug spoke at the Advanced Textiles Association’s Smart Fabrics Summit. He joined Dhruv Agarwal, Vice President of Sustainability, Innovation, and development at Kontoor Brands, in discussing on “IP Best Practices When Going to Market.”
From conception to introduction, the path of bringing a new product to market can involve both legal pitfalls and opportunities. Understanding when to consider legal issues can help avoid wasted efforts and lessen the chances that the right to obtain a patent will be lost. Using case examples, Agarwal and Schug highlighted best practices including:
- Agreements to protection ownership;
- Patent searches (state of the art, freedom to operate, patentability);
- Provisional/non-provisional/international patent applications;
- Front-loading or back-loading costs;
- Licensing; and
- Enforcement.
The Smart Fabrics Summit took place April 11-12 in Raleigh, N.C.
