Instructor Resource
Neck, Entrepreneurship, 1e
SAGE Publishing, 2018
Answers to Questions in the Text
Chapter 15: Navigating Legal and IP Issues
ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN ACTION
Corey Hague, FlexGround
1. How does the Hague family take legal considerations into account to benefit
Flexground?
2. Laws differ from state to state. How would you go about ensuring your start-up was
legally set up?
3. What steps would you take to protect your product/service from being copied by
competitors?
MINDSHIFT
Patent Search
1. How easy or difficult was it to think of a cool product for your patent search? What
factors came into play?
2. Did you find many other patents for products related to the one you were searching for?
3. What did you learn that surprised you or went against your expectations?
RESEARCH AT WORK
Patent Trolls
1. How would you protect your start-up against patent trolls?
2. Do you think individuals or firms have the right to hold patents without producing any
useful products of their own? Why or why not?
3. What are the effects of patent trolls on start-ups?
ENTREPRENEURSHIP MEETS ETHICS
Navigating Legal and Intellectual Property Issues
1. Why is it important to protect intellectual property?
2. Whose responsibility is it to protect intellectual property?
3. When is the best time to apply for intellectual property protection?
Summary Questions
1. Discuss how legal considerations can add value to an entrepreneurial venture.
Understanding the legal considerations applicable to the business is as important as
2. Explain the most common types of legal structures available to start-ups
The most common types of legal structures include: Sole Proprietorship, General Partnership, C
3. Outline the most common legal errors made by start-ups.
Start-ups may make some common mistakes which could be expensive. The most common
4. Define IP and how it affects entrepreneurs.
(IP) is intangible personal property created by human intelligence, such as ideas, inventions,
5. Assess the global impact of IP theft.
6. Identify the common IP traps experienced by entrepreneurs.
Entrepreneurs often make mistakes in the following areas:
7. Explain the legal requirements of hiring employees.