Intellectual Property Law Clinic
The clinic works with clients on intellectual property matters, including strategies to protect innovations. Its program includes patent and trademark practice.
Explore the IP Clinic ↗Legal & Intellectual Property
Build the company.
Strengthen its foundation.
Legal and intellectual property questions are part of building a business. We aim to address them early—while the company is taking shape, before they become obstacles to growth.
Our relationships
Connecting ventures with legal and IP resources.
Through LaunchWorks’ relationships with Indiana University Maurer School of Law’s Intellectual Property Law Clinic and Elmore Entrepreneurship Law Clinic, ventures may have access to resources around intellectual property strategy, patents and trademarks, company formation, founder and ownership matters, contracts, and other legal considerations.
These relationships complement the commercial work of building a company: helping founders surface important questions, understand what needs attention, and establish a stronger foundation for the next stage.
Elmore Entrepreneurship Law Clinic
The clinic supports emerging ventures with business planning and legal services, including business organization, formation documents, agreements, and intellectual property matters.
Explore the Elmore Clinic ↗Questions to address early
A foundation for the business around the product.
Intellectual property strategy
Understand what makes the product valuable, what the company owns, and which protections may support the business. Build an IP strategy around the product and its commercial goals.
Patents & trademarks
Explore whether patent or trademark questions are relevant to the venture, including how to approach protection for inventions and brand identity.
Company formation
Address the legal structure and foundational documents needed as a product becomes a company. Align the structure with how the venture will operate and grow.
Founders & ownership
Clarify founder roles, ownership, decision-making, and contributions. Identify questions about the rights to code, inventions, and other assets created by founders or collaborators.
Contracts & relationships
Surface questions around customer, contractor, vendor, and other agreements. Define expectations, responsibilities, and rights as commercial relationships take shape.
Other legal considerations
Identify additional issues raised by the product, industry, and business model, and determine when more specialized guidance is appropriate.
Why timing matters
Small ambiguities can become
large obstacles.
As customers, revenue, team members, and capital enter the picture, the consequences of unresolved legal questions grow. Getting the foundation right early helps protect the work already done and gives the company room to move forward.
Protect the value being created.
A working product is an asset. Unclear ownership of code, inventions, or brand assets can create uncertainty around what the company can use, protect, and commercialize.
Align founders before the stakes grow.
Early conversations about ownership, responsibilities, and decision-making are easier when expectations are still being formed. Shared understanding gives the team a stronger basis for working together.
Build customer relationships on clear terms.
Customer and vendor commitments shape how a company operates. Clear agreements can help teams understand what they are promising and how responsibilities are shared.
Prepare for the next stage.
Partners, investors, and potential acquirers may examine formation documents, ownership, IP rights, and contracts. Addressing these questions as the company is built can reduce avoidable uncertainty later.
The goal is to build with clarity from the start—so the company can grow on a foundation that supports it.
Part of how we build
Raise the questions.
Make a plan.
Build with clarity.
We consider legal and IP questions alongside customer validation, commercialization, and launch planning. The priorities depend on the venture: what has been built, who contributed, how it will reach customers, and what comes next.
Clinic access and the scope of assistance depend on each clinic’s assessment, capacity, and requirements. LaunchWorks can help explore the appropriate resources; participation or a particular service is not guaranteed.
See how we build →