“IP Owner’s Manual” Hands-on Workshop for Hardware and Robotics Founders: Turning Technology, Design, and Brand into Tools for Both Offense and Defense

A hands-on workshop on intellectual property strategy for founders building hardware, robots, and smart devices in the early development phase. Rather than a lecture, participants work through their own prototypes and development arrangements and build their own IP playbook through discussion. Topics include the basics of patents, designs, trademarks, and trade secrets and when to use each; the risk of destroying patentability by exhibiting or publishing a prototype too early; preventing know-how leakage and settling ownership of rights in manufacturing and joint development contracts; freedom-to-operate searches before tooling and mass production; and how to combine hardware and software rights in IoT products. It suits teams planning an exhibition or crowdfunding launch, or running a PoC with an EMS partner or a large company. The instructor is Kimiyoshi Watanabe, IP strategy advisor at the Tokyo Metropolitan Intellectual Property Center. He has worked in corporate R&D and IP departments, as a patent attorney in private practice, and in university industry collaboration and spinout formation, and has supported small companies and startups since 2020. The venue is Tokyo Innovation Base 2F ROOM, attendance is free, capacity is 30, and the event is co-hosted with the Tokyo Metropolitan Intellectual Property Center. It is open to TIB FAB members only.