Legal Aspects of Entrepreneurship

University of Maryland, College Park via Coursera Specialization

Go to class Write review

Details

Go to class

Provider

Coursera Specialization
Pricing

Paid Course
Languages

English
Certificate

Certificate Available
Effort

4 weeks, 10 hours/week
Sessions

Self-Paced
Level

Beginner

Found in

Overview

Google, IBM & Meta Certificates – 40% Off

One plan covers every Professional Certificate on Coursera.

Unlock All Certificates

By its nature, the law touches on many aspects of entrepreneurship, making it an applicable and versatile topic of study. For aspiring entrepreneurs, it's important to understand how to form the business, work with the initial customers, and hire. For active entrepreneurs, there are critical considerations on employment law, operating policies, and managing contracts. For everyone, the role that the law plays in managing the company, and its associated risks, must be properly understood to navigate challenges and capitalize on opportunities. With the aspiring and active entrepreneur in mind, this Specialization focuses on the foundational elements of law with initial attention to business formation and organization. Our second course focuses on intellectual property, and how patents, copyrights, trademarks, and trade secrets can influence or impede your success. The final course focuses on contracts and financing arrangements important to business creation and growth. In every course, learners examine real-world scenarios and address legal and business issues in a practical manner. Learners will develop an understanding of what legal activities they may pursue on their own as well as when and how to select and work with an attorney.

Syllabus

Course 1: Legal Foundations for Entrepreneurs
Course 2: Intellectual Property for Entrepreneurs
Course 3: Legal Contracts and Agreements for Entrepreneurs

Courses

3 reviews

View details

This course focuses on how legal contracts may impact or impede the success of aspiring and active entrepreneurs. We explore a wide variety of legal considerations, including: * What types of legal contracts and agreements are appropriate for which entrepreneurial activities and actions? * What is the role of torts, liability, and negligence in creating and managing products and services? * How should contracts and sales agreements be created, evaluated, and negotiated? * What legal considerations are applicable when raising financial capital? "Legal Contracts and Agreements for Entrepreneurs" is one of three courses in the "Legal Aspects of Entrepreneurship Specialization" by Coursera and the University of Maryland. This specialization explores the critical legal and business issues entrepreneurs face as they build and launch a new venture. Learners examine real-world scenarios and address legal and business issues from ideation to all of the important junctures along the path to success. Significant attention is placed on new venture formation, intellectual property management, and contracts and financing arrangements.
4 reviews

View details

Every entrepreneur makes legal decisions, whether they realize it or not. Choosing a business structure, signing contracts, hiring employees, protecting intellectual property, raising capital, and planning for future growth all involve legal considerations that can influence the success of a business. The good news is that you don't need to become a lawyer to make smart legal decisions. You do need to recognize when legal issues arise, understand the questions to ask, and know when it's time to seek professional legal advice. Legal Foundations for Entrepreneurs is designed to help you develop that practical legal awareness. Rather than focusing on legal theory or memorizing laws, this course helps you think like an entrepreneur who recognizes legal risks before they become business problems. Through practical examples and real-world entrepreneurial scenarios, you'll learn how legal considerations influence the decisions founders make as they launch, grow, and manage successful ventures. Throughout the course, you'll explore how businesses are legally established, compare common business structures, understand the legal responsibilities of hiring employees, and learn how thoughtful legal planning supports long-term growth. You'll also gain a better understanding of how to work effectively with attorneys and other professional advisors so you can make informed decisions with greater confidence. Who Should Take This Course? This course is designed for: - Aspiring entrepreneurs preparing to launch their first business - Startup founders building and growing new ventures - Small business owners who want a stronger understanding of legal issues - Product managers, innovators, and professionals exploring entrepreneurship - Anyone interested in developing practical legal knowledge for starting or growing a business No legal background is required. The course uses plain language, practical examples, and an entrepreneur-focused approach to make legal concepts accessible and immediately applicable. What You'll Gain By completing this course, you'll be better prepared to: - Recognize legal issues before they become costly business problems. - Choose and establish the legal structure that best supports your business goals. - Make informed decisions about hiring employees, managing legal risk, and protecting your growing business. - Understand when to seek legal advice and communicate more effectively with attorneys and other professional advisors. Whether you're launching your first startup or expanding an existing business, this course will help you build the legal foundation needed to make smarter business decisions with confidence.
3 reviews

View details

Your ideas are among your most valuable business assets. Whether you're developing a new product, creating software, building a recognizable brand, or launching a startup, understanding intellectual property can help you protect your innovations, reduce legal risk, and create a lasting competitive advantage. Many entrepreneurs spend months, or even years, developing products, technologies, creative works, and business processes without realizing they may already have valuable intellectual property. Others unknowingly infringe on someone else's rights or miss opportunities to protect their own innovations. Understanding the fundamentals of intellectual property can help you avoid these costly mistakes and make more informed business decisions from the earliest stages of building a venture. In Intellectual Property for Entrepreneurs, you'll explore how entrepreneurs use patents, copyrights, trademarks, and trade secrets to protect the ideas and assets that drive business success. Rather than focusing solely on legal rules and terminology, this course emphasizes the practical decisions entrepreneurs make every day. You'll learn how to recognize different forms of intellectual property, evaluate the best way to protect them, and understand how intellectual property can increase the value of a business. Along the way, you'll examine realistic entrepreneurial scenarios that illustrate how intellectual property supports innovation, attracts investment, strengthens brands, and helps businesses compete in rapidly changing markets. You'll also learn how to recognize situations where working with a qualified intellectual property attorney can help you develop an effective protection strategy. This course is designed for aspiring and current entrepreneurs, founders, innovators, product managers, inventors, and business leaders. No legal background is required. Whether you're still exploring a business idea or already growing a company, you'll gain practical knowledge that you can immediately apply to your own venture.