Special thanks to Chris Carroll of Carroll Hoette and Butscher Intellectual Property Law Firm for spending time with students sharing the world of Intellectual Property. For most students, this was an introduction to a topic that they were not familiar with in any capacity. This was so valuable as these students begin to launch their businesses and learn about the world of legally protecting ideas, logos and trade secrets! Here are a few highlights of the information Chris shared -
- Patents – protect inventions. Utility or Design - depending on what they choose is most valuable to protect.
- Trademarks – protect names, logos, color arrangements, etc. (“marks”) that associate goods/services with provider. Common law protections.
- Copyrights – protect expression of an idea/concept.
- Trade Secrets – protect formulas, recipes, know-how, etc. that cannot be reverse engineered. Students were amazed at the story of Coca-Cola.

Chris was very candid with his experience and while he didn't originally plan to go into this field of law, his path led him to his own firm with others. It seems like the students always feel that ease of pressure of 'knowing what to do next' when they hear these real stories from our community leaders.

Thank you for giving such valuable insight to our Gateway CEO students!