As they say, an ounce of prevention is often worth a pound of cure. While dispute itself is inevitable if you are running a successful business, litigation does not have to be. Additionally, even avoiding needing arbitration or mediation is a major boon. Dispute resolution of any kind can take a lot of time, effort and money.
This is why it is good to prevent as many disputes as you can before they start. According to Forbes, owning your own intellectual property and being fair can prevent many disputes.
Owning your own intellectual property
Many business disputes rotate around intellectual property issues. You can solve many issues by ensuring that employees and contractors sign over their intellectual property rights to your company when you hire them. Make sure that your employees and contractors understand that any of their work belongs to you.
A key element of this is being clear about what types of intellectual property actually belong to your company. These may include copyrights, trademarks and trade secrets.
Keeping it fair
While we are no longer children on the playground, the importance of playing fair still applies. You should have strong and clear internal policies and apply them equally to everybody involved with your company. Being ethical and consistent can minimize resentment from all sides. By being fair and honest as a rule, you will find that dispute automatically lessens.
Running a business is not easy. But by being clear about what intellectual property belongs to you and striving for fairness, you will avoid unnecessary disputes as a matter of course.