【ACT】Innovation and Entrepreneurship Course “The Road to Innovation and Entrepreneurship” Series Report 3 – The Legal Aspects of Entrepreneurship: 15 Big Legal Mistakes Made by Start-Ups

In the early stages of entrepreneurship, new start-up teams are often so focused on operations and fundraising that they overlook the importance of legal issues. However, in order to survive and thrive on the battlefield of the business world, new entrepreneurs must understand the opportunities and limitations of entrepreneurship in order to avoid breaking the law. On June 2, the ‘Innovation and Entrepreneurship’ course within the ACT Global Program invited Dr. Thomas Y. Lu, assistant professor of the Department of Business Management, who has strong legal knowledge and extensive practical experience, to speak to the class, hoping to raise students’ awareness of the legal regulations when starting a business.

Dr. Thomas Y. Lu was invited to give a speech for the “Innovation and Entrepreneurship” course within the ACT Global Program.

Dr. Lu has a master’s degree in technology management and intellectual property law from National Chengchi University, and a master’s degree in intellectual property law and a J.D. from Washington University in St. Louis. In addition to his research on intellectual property and anti-trust law, he is also interested in innovation and entrepreneurial management. Therefore, he combined these two different areas and explained to students the legal regulations to which entrepreneurs need to pay special attention when starting a business, under the topic of “15 Big Legal Mistakes Made by Start-Ups”.

From the selection of the type of organization, the design and regulations of shareholders’ shareholdings at the early stage of a company’s establishment, the clarification of internal legal relations, labor relations, intellectual property rights, and non-compete clauses, to external contract signing, product liability regulations, personal data protection, and trademark design, the potential risks that a company may face vary within each section. Taking internal employee relations as an example, Dr. Lu reminded students that when a company is interviewing candidates, they must avoid questions such as (1) Do you own or rent your home? (2) Where is your family from? or (3) Can you give me the name of a relative to be notified in case of emergency? In terms of choosing a trademark, Dr. Lu strongly suggested that people should first conduct a preliminary search through Google for the planned corporate trademark or domain name and use the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), Secretary of State Corporate, LLC records, GoDaddy.com, and other channels for secondary checks in order to ensure that the company name and domain name being registered have not been used by others in order to avoid unnecessary legal disputes.

Dr. Thomas Y. Lu was invited to give a speech for the “Innovation and Entrepreneurship” course within the ACT Global Program.

As the seminar came to an end, Erica Littler, a student from Canada, took the opportunity to ask questions about cybersquatting, a form of malicious trademark hijacking. After the speaker’s explanation, everyone had a better understanding of the legal regulations concerning cybersquatting. At the end of the lecture, Taseen Saqeeb, a student from Bangladesh, expressed his appreciation for the lecturer’s simple-to-understand presentation of the complicated legal provisions, ranging from the choice of organization type to the attribution for intellectual property with real-life examples, and thanked the Innovation and Entrepreneurship course in particular for organizing this lecture.

Erica Littler, a student from Canada, taking the opportunity to ask questions actively.

(Written by Yen-Chu Lai from IBMBA / Edited by the College of Management)