STARTING an enterprise can be a complicated and messy affair. There are many demands on your time and many more on your wallet.

There are numerous strands that need to be weaved into your new business.

And on top of all the high-level strategy and low-level practicalities, you will need eventually to start earning money because your mortgage will not pay itself.

It is difficult, then, to prioritise the impact that intellectual property (IP) – patents, trademarks, copyright etc – will have on your endeavours. But paying a little attention now can save much grief later.

Plus, if you think life is busy now, do you think in five years’ time, when you have 40 employees and a £10m turnover, that you will have time to deal with it?

In any case, by then it may be too late.

If you are doing something innovative, whether product or service, it is worth considering whether there is something protectable in there, whether registrable or not. A strong IP portfolio raises barriers to market entry, and the lower the level of competition, the greater the profit potential, and profits make for happy investors.

But you might also want to make sure that what you are doing will not tread on someone else’s toes, so checking out the lie of the land makes good sense.

And just because you are doing something that might not be regarded generally as innovative, you might still want to have a think about the ways in which other people’s rights will have an impact on your business.

Do your contracts protect you against liability for infringements caused by your clients or suppliers, for example?

Large media businesses make a fortune out of penal licence fees foisted on “innocent” infringers, as do the big city law firms that represent them. Do not be one of their victims.

You will not want to be thinking about what could go wrong, but just bear in mind that every day the unpredictable sinks perfectly good businesses.

Clever structuring of your business through the use of IP will make the difference between rescuing the key assets and seeing your investment go down with a perfectly sound business.

■ Matthew Rippon is a consultant at BHP Law specialising in IP and commercialisation.

He can be contacted on 01325-466794, 07939-080534 or at matthewr@bhplaw.co.uk.