In business it pays to be smart. No matter how clever you may be however, overlooking those mundane, time-consuming legalities of business back-covering is an easy mistake to make.
Of particular confusion for a number of entrepreneurs are the rules and regulations surrounding idea and property protection, namely patent and intellectual property right laws.
A recent article featured in the New York Times focused on this very issue. Entitled 'A Small-Business Guide to Intellectual Property', the piece highlighted the do's and don'ts surrounding the issue.
Of greatest importance, is the acknowledgement by small-business owners that the internet offers a very serious and far more dangerous threat to their company as a result of increased competition.
A comprehension of the value of Intellectual Property law becomes tantamount to success when you consider the number of potential rivals that can track a product, imitate it and, should it not be protected, steal the financial viability of it.
The problem for owners of smaller businesses is the commonplace misconception that product protection is something that only bigger companies need bother with and that for the smaller folk, it's just a waste of both time and money.
This however, is most certainly not the case, as exemplified by New York City-based Kind Snacks.
Daniel Lubetzky, chief executive of the healthy snacks company, found out during a conference last year that a competitor had copied the packaging of his Kind Plus bars as well as their look and feel.
The bars had received widespread attention when they were named best new product at the Natural Products Expo East in the same year.
The future of Mr Lubetzky's company was arguably dependent on whether he had secured rights over the bar's image.
Thankfully, he had secured the vital intellectual property rights such as trademarks, trade dress and Web addresses.
Small-business owners need not gasp at the number of intellectual property rights sought by Mr Lubetzky - unlike a patent, they are relatively cheap and, given the financial alternative of losing the rights to sell your product, money well spent.
Having sensibly covered himself, Mr Lubetzky simply had to send the competitor a cease-and-desist letter. Soon enough, the perpetrators were off his back and his company could continue trading as usual.
Mr Lubetzky said: "Too many entrepreneurs forget there is more to [intellectual property] than just patents."
Of course it does help somewhat that the Kind Plus bars inventor is also a lawyer and therefore able to grapple with the intricacies of intellectual property law that little bit more easily.
That said, if business owners wish to secure their companies financial future, they should seek advice on the issue as quickly as is possible - whether they are a lawyer or not.
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