Patents and trademarks for startups

Palo Alto's companies are built on ideas. A lot of founders' first legal questions are about protecting them. Do we need a patent? Can we keep our name? What happens to the code a co-founder wrote at their old job? The answers depend on the type of intellectual property, the industry and the company's plans to raise money.

This guide covers the basics of patents, trademarks, copyrights and trade secrets. It also describes the US Patent and Trademark Office's regional office in San Jose and the way Stanford licenses university research. For help choosing counsel, see our guide to startup law firms.

Four kinds of protection

Software startups often rely more on copyright, trade secrets and speed than on patents. Hardware, biotech, medical device and deep tech companies usually depend on patents, because investors want to know competitors cannot simply copy the product.

Patent basics

A patent gives its owner the right to stop others from making, using or selling the claimed invention in the United States. To qualify, an invention must be new, useful and not obvious to a skilled person in the field. Since March 16, 2013, the United States has followed a first-inventor-to-file system. When two people claim the same invention, filing date matters a great deal.

Timing is the trap that catches founders. US law gives inventors a limited grace period after their own public disclosure, such as a demo day pitch, a paper or a product launch. Many other countries do not. If you might want patents abroad, file before you disclose. Talk to a patent practitioner before any public pitch of a new technical idea.

Entity size and fees

USPTO fees are lower for smaller applicants. The fee schedule has three tiers: large entity, small entity and micro entity. Small entity status generally covers businesses with no more than 500 employees, including affiliates, that have not licensed rights to a large company. Micro entity status adds limits on income and the number of prior applications. Check the definitions on the USPTO's fee schedule before you claim a discount, since an improper claim can cause problems later.

Provisional patent applications

A provisional application is the most common first step for startups. In general terms:

• It sets a filing date for what it describes, so you can say "patent pending."
• The USPTO does not examine it. It never becomes a patent by itself.
• It expires 12 months after filing. To keep its date, you must file a nonprovisional application, or an international application, that claims its benefit within that year.
• It does not need formal patent claims, but it only protects what it actually describes. A thin description gives thin protection.
• The USPTO's 2026 fee schedule lists the filing fee at $325 for large entities, $130 for small entities and $65 for micro entities.

Founders sometimes file a provisional themselves right before a launch. That can preserve a date, but a rushed filing that leaves out key details may not help when the real application is written. Many patent firms offer fixed fees for provisionals because startups ask for them so often.

Trademarks and company names

Forming a corporation with a name does not give you trademark rights to it. Before you spend money on a brand, search the USPTO's trademark database and the web for similar names in your field. Then decide whether to file a federal application.

• Fees. The USPTO fee schedule lists a base application fee of $350 per class of goods or services. Extra per-class fees apply for missing information or free-form descriptions instead of the ID Manual.
• Use or intent. You can file based on current use in commerce or a good faith intent to use the mark.
• Foreign applicants. Applicants domiciled outside the United States must be represented by a US-licensed attorney.
• State registration. The California Secretary of State also registers trademarks, with narrower, statewide effect.
• Scams. After you file, expect official-looking letters from private companies asking for fees. The USPTO warns about these. Real USPTO correspondence comes from uspto.gov addresses.

The USPTO's Western office in San Jose

The USPTO opened its Silicon Valley office at San Jose City Hall in 2015. It now calls it the Western Regional Outreach Office. The office serves Alaska, California, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon and Washington. Its address is 26 S. Fourth Street, San Jose, in the Wing Building of City Hall, about 20 miles from Palo Alto.

What to know before you go, according to the USPTO's page:

• Visits are by appointment only. The office does not accept walk-ins.
• Hours are Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., closed on federal holidays.
• It cannot accept patent or trademark applications, prosecution correspondence or fees. Filing is online.
• Visitors need a REAL ID-compliant license or another federal photo ID and may go through security screening.
• There is metered street parking and public garages nearby. The USPTO does not validate parking.

Much of the help is now virtual. The USPTO's page points founders to the Pro Se Assistance Center for people filing patents without a lawyer, the Trademark Assistance Center and the Inventors Assistance Center, which is staffed by former patent examiners. The office also runs free webinars. Its calendar listed a virtual SBIR intellectual property awareness session for November 12, 2026. If you combine a visit with other errands, our San Jose day trip guide covers downtown.

Stanford's Office of Technology Licensing

Many Palo Alto startups begin with university research. Stanford's Office of Technology Licensing, or OTL, handles inventions created by people while affiliated with the university. Inventors report them to OTL, which decides whether to seek patents and looks for companies, including startups, to license them. OTL's most famous license helped Google get started; our Google page tells that story.

OTL lists its office at 485 Broadway Street, 4th Floor, in Redwood City, on the Stanford Redwood City campus. Its website has a Techfinder catalog of available technologies, startup FAQs and best practices for founders. Our guide to Stanford entrepreneurship programs covers OTL's yearly figures and its High Impact Technology Fund. Research labs such as SRI and SLAC have their own licensing teams, as our research labs guide notes.

Founders, employees and ownership

Investors will ask one question early: does the company own its technology? Make sure it does.

1. Assign founder IP. Each founder should sign an agreement assigning to the company any work done for it, including work done before incorporation.
2. Use invention assignment agreements. Every employee and contractor should sign one at the start.
3. Know California's limits. Labor Code Section 2870 generally lets employees keep inventions made entirely on their own time without the employer's equipment or trade secrets, unless they relate to the employer's business or come from work for it. Agreements must tell employees about this rule.
4. Check prior employers. A co-founder's old employment agreement may claim work done while they were still employed. Sort this out before you raise money.
5. Protect trade secrets. Limit access, label confidential material and use nondisclosure agreements with partners.

Government-funded research brings its own rules. Our SBIR guide explains that federal grants come with reporting duties for inventions.

Frequently asked questions