Patent Protection

Abstract

Abstract Patents are often essential to entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial ventures in protecting new technologies, new products, and intellectual property necessary to gain first‐mover advantages against larger, more established firms. However, obtaining patents can be a daunting task as many entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial ventures cannot afford the time and money to procure patent protection. Paradoxically, large, more established firms are often better equipped to procure patent protection, as they often have more resources, including patent attorneys, who are knowledgeable in patent procurement and who can handle the complex administrative issues surrounding securing a patent. We discuss these issues and offer thoughts on ways entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial ventures can combine property‐based resources in the way of patents, trademarks, and copyrights along with knowledge‐based resources, in the way of unique tacit knowledge and capabilities, to achieve sustainable competitive advantage.