For many life sciences founders, intellectual property starts with a patent.
But as Dentons lawyers Jaclin Cassios, Counsel, and Heather Barnhouse KC, ICD.D, FEA, Partner, explained during a recent Edmonton Unlimited workshop, that’s only part of the story.
For life sciences companies, intellectual property isn’t simply a legal consideration. It’s often the foundation of the business itself.
The decisions founders make around ownership, protection, contracts, and commercialization can influence everything from fundraising and partnerships to licensing opportunities and long-term growth.
Several themes emerged throughout the session, offering practical guidance for founders building companies around scientific discovery and innovation.
Intellectual Property Is More Than a Patent
One of the strongest messages throughout the workshop was that intellectual property extends far beyond patents.
For life sciences companies, different forms of intellectual property protect different aspects of a business. Depending on the technology, founders may rely on patents, trademarks, copyright, trade secrets, and contractual protections, each serving a different purpose.
Understanding which protections are appropriate depends not only on the innovation itself, but also on how the company plans to commercialize it.
Rather than asking, “Should we file a patent?”, founders were encouraged to think more broadly: “How do we protect the business we’re building?”
Protecting intellectual property isn’t the end goal. It’s one of the building blocks of building a successful company.
Protect the Science by Protecting Ownership
For companies built around years of research and development, ownership matters.
Throughout the workshop, Jaclin and Heather emphasized the importance of ensuring the company—not individual founders, employees, contractors, or collaborators—owns the intellectual property being created.
Without clear IP assignment agreements, ownership questions can surface during fundraising, licensing negotiations, acquisitions, or investor due diligence, creating delays at critical moments in a company’s growth.
The presenters also explored how corporate structure can help protect valuable intellectual property. For some companies, separating IP from day-to-day operations can reduce risk while creating greater flexibility for future investment and licensing opportunities.
These conversations often happen long before a company reaches commercialization, but they can have lasting implications as the business grows.
Questions Every Life Sciences Founder Should Be Asking:
- Does our company clearly own the IP we’ve created?
- Have employees, researchers, and contractors assigned their IP to the company?
- Are we protecting the right forms of intellectual property?
- Will our current structure support future partnerships, licensing, and investment?
Intellectual Property and Commercialization Go Hand in Hand
For life sciences companies, commercialization is rarely a straight line.
Moving an innovation from the lab to the market often means navigating regulatory approvals, licensing agreements, privacy requirements, customer contracts, and evolving business models alongside product development.
Those decisions are closely connected to intellectual property.
How a company protects its innovation can influence partnership opportunities, licensing negotiations, investor confidence, and its ability to enter new markets.
Rather than treating IP as a legal task to complete before launch, the workshop encouraged founders to see it as part of the commercialization journey from the very beginning.
Building What's Next?
One of the strongest reminders from the workshop was that many of the decisions that shape a life sciences company happen long before a product reaches the market.
Scientific breakthroughs take years to develop. Protecting the knowledge, research, and innovation behind them helps ensure founders are building more than groundbreaking technology—they’re building companies prepared for investment, partnerships, and commercialization.
Intellectual property isn’t simply about protecting an invention.
It’s about creating a stronger foundation for everything that comes next.