Module 4 - The legal stuff...
5. Module 4 Wrap-up
Key take-aways
- Protection of intellectual property, food specific legal requirements, business structure and commercial agreements aren’t the most riveting parts of being an entrepreneur. However, it’s important to get your legal and trading foundations in place as early
as possible. - Business structure has implications on your personal liability, funding options, taxation and reporting requirements so choose your structure wisely. Many startups opt for a limited liability structure as it creates a separate legal entity and protects your personal assets.
Time to stop and think: are you familiar with different business structures and their implications?
- Don’t ignore insurances. It’s likely you’ll need at least public liability insurance, product liability insurance and employee insurance.
Now, let’s get active!
- Choose a company structure. Go through different company structures and their liabilities before deciding the type of company structure you want to use. This Points of Single Contact overview lists different company types for each European country.
- Research which insurances are required from your business
Additional Resources
40 legal tools and services for startups:
https://medium.com/@imaginetta/40-legal-tools-and-services-for-startups-10dbbda22ed2
Matters of intellectual property (IP) can be confusing but these sites will help you:
Protecting your ideas:
https://www.bl.uk/business-and-ip-centre/protecting-your-ideas
Types of intellectual property:
https://www.wipo.int/about-ip/en/
IP support from British Library:
https://www.bl.uk/business-and-ip-centre
European IPR Helpdesk (free-of-charge, first-line support on IP matters to beneficiaries of EU-funded research projects and EU SMEs involved in transnational partnership agreements)
https://iprhelpdesk.eu
FAQS on patents for SMES from the World Intellectual Property Organisation: https://www.wipo.int/sme/en/faq/patent_faqs.html
10 things you can do to prepare before meeting at patent attorney:
https://boldip.com/blog/questions-to-ask-a-patent-attorney/
Safety first – dive into these resources to learn more about food safety and regulations regarding food labelling:
European Food Safety Authority: http://www.efsa.europa.eu
Food safety in the EU – Ensuring safe food from farm to fork: https://europa.eu/european-union/topics/food-safety_en
Fact sheet on EU food safety policy:
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/factsheets/en/sheet/51/food-safety
EU law on food information to consumers:
https://ec.europa.eu/food/safety/labelling_nutrition/labelling_legislation_en
Food ingredient applications: regulations and guidance
https://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/applications/foodingredients/regulationsandguidance
EU novel food catalogue:
http://ec.europa.eu/food/safety/novel_food/catalogue/search/public/index.cfm
List of company structures by country to help you choose yours:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_legal_entity_types_by_country#European_Economic_Area_ (including the European Union)