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Fighting against copycats

If you?re a small company and you are selling a manufactured product, chances are, you are at a disadvantage. There are probably a multitude of larger firms out there that are very able to produce what you produce and are willing to do so. It is easy to get a defeatist attitude towards these multinationals by the sheer thought of their multimillion dollar legal teams. Once these top legal professionals get to work on something, your chances of winning are out of the window. Or are they?

Michael Orenstein, owner of Built NY, a manufacturer of neoprene wine totes, is convinced that the struggle is worth it and it can be won. After fighting over 45 companies trying to manufacture, or lets call it copying, his product, he says the most important thing for you is to realize that as a small business owner is that first of all, you are dealing with ideas. If what you are producing is in any way new, or innovative, you have a good chance to have it patented and register a trademark.

It is of vital importance that when you are trying to prevent your competitors from stealing your design ,and thus your business, you have some clear legal grounds for doing so. Orenstein?s company has dedicated about 4 percent of its annual budget to requiring and defending their patents, their third largest business expense. But he is convinced that this is money well spend: Once you have the law on your side, most companies imitating from you will actually be rather compliant. Don?t forget, for you your product might be number one, but for another firm it might just not be worth the hassle.