Author's note (May 2026): I wrote this in August 2020 while waiting for confirmation of Vertrag® registration at INAPI. I'm sharing it because very few early-stage Latin American startups understand why protecting intellectual property matters — even when you don't have revenue yet.

I Registered a Trademark in Chile Without Being a Lawyer: What I Learned About Intellectual Property

What is Vertrag and why it needed protection

Vertrag was born as an evolution of VeanX focused on intelligent contract management and digital signature for Chilean SMEs. The name comes from German — "Vertrag" means "contract" — and was chosen deliberately: in a Spanish market, a German name for a legal security product projects solidity, precision, and reliability.

The idea won the Open Innovation Challenge Iquique 2019, which gave us validation that the Chilean market needed accessible digital legal security solutions. From that point on, protecting the name was the first step in building a brand with transnational value.

The problem we wanted to solve was concrete: in Chile, thousands of commercial contracts between SMEs are still signed on paper, with all the risks of dispute, loss, and fraud that entails. Vertrag was the digital signature and secure contract storage solution for companies that don't have a legal department.

Why register a trademark when you have no revenue

The most common argument against registering a trademark at the early stage is: "Wait until you have money." It's the most short-sighted argument I've heard in the entrepreneurship ecosystem.

A trademark isn't an expense — it's an asset. An asset that appreciates over time, that protects the work you've already done, and that establishes who you are in the market before someone else uses your name.

The logic is simple: if you build a brand over two years without registering it, and on month 25 someone registers that same name in a related category, you have three options — change your name (destroy the branding you built), pay to buy the name (expensive), or litigate (very expensive and lengthy). All three are infinitely more expensive than preventive registration.

In the Iquique ecosystem, owning our trademark gave us also a perception advantage: when you presented at investment events with a registered trademark, the level of perceived seriousness was different.

The process at INAPI Chile step by step

The National Industrial Property Institute is the entity that manages trademark, patent, and utility model registrations in Chile. The complete process, in 2020, could be done 100% online — something the pandemic accelerated considerably.

Step 1: Prior art search Before spending a peso, I verified that "Vertrag" wasn't already registered in relevant classes. INAPI's trademark search engine is public and free. This was the part with the most tension: if the trademark already existed in our category, all the previous year's branding work would have to be redone.

"Vertrag" was available. The path was clear.

Step 2: Selection of Nice Classes Trademarks are registered in "Nice Classes" — an international classification of products and services. Choosing the classes incorrectly is one of the most expensive mistakes because protection only applies to what you declare.

For Vertrag I chose Classes 9 and 42:

• Class 9: software, digital platforms, applications
• Class 42: technology services, digital signature, secure data storage

I didn't register all possible classes — only relevant ones. Unnecessary registration in classes you don't use is wasted money and can create maintenance problems later.

Step 3: Application drafting and filing The application describes the trademark (name, logo if applicable), selected classes, and owner. Being a natural person, ownership was personal; if you wanted to transfer it later to a company, it would require an additional step.

The filing was completely online, during a pandemic, in August 2020. The registration cost, which includes the INAPI fee, was accessible for an early-stage startup.

Step 4: Opposition period and granting After publication in the Official Gazette, there's a 30-day opposition period where third parties can challenge the registration. If there's no opposition, INAPI issues the Title of Concession.

The CVE 1817254 arrived months later. That number is the legal identity of Vertrag® in Chile.

The mistakes I saw in other entrepreneurs

Working in the Iquique ecosystem between 2017 and 2022, I saw three recurring mistakes with intellectual property:

Mistake 1: Waiting until success "When we sell well, we'll register the trademark." That moment comes and the name already belongs to someone else. I saw a local startup have to change names after three years because they received a "Cease and Desist" letter. The name change cost them months of work, brand redesign, and confused customers.

Mistake 2: Registering a descriptive name A name like "Contract Software Chile" can't be registered as a trademark — it's too generic. Trademarks must be distinctive. "Vertrag" worked because it's a German word in a Spanish market: distinctive, memorable, and available in the local market.

Mistake 3: Choosing the wrong Nice classes Startups that register their trademark only in Class 42 (technology services) and later launch an app discover someone else registered the same name in Class 9 (software). Protection is by class — it's not absolute.

Intellectual property beyond trademarks

Trademark registration is just the tip of the iceberg. What I learned in the Vertrag process led me to deepen my understanding of other IP aspects that every developer should know:

Software copyright: In Chile, source code is protected by copyright from the moment of creation — you don't need to register anything. But it's good practice to document authorship with dated commits and, for relevant proprietary code, make a deposit of the work at the intellectual property registration office.

Open source vs. proprietary: Your software license choice defines what others can do with it. An MIT license makes it completely free. A proprietary license protects your competitive advantage. This strategic decision should be made consciously from the start, not by omission.

Domain names and social media: Trademark registration doesn't automatically give you the domains or social media accounts. You need to ensure coherence between registered trademark, domain, and handles. Inconsistency creates confusion and weakens the brand.

What I would do differently

I did it completely alone and it worked. But there's something I would change if I did it today with a larger-scale project:

I would hire an intellectual property strategy specialist from day one — not necessarily to do the paperwork (which can be done alone), but to define the correct strategy for classes, geographies, and types of protection.

IP isn't a bureaucratic procedure — it's a strategic decision that determines your company's future value. Vertrag taught me to think like an owner of intangible assets, not just a creator of features.

That mindset is the difference between a freelancer who builds things and a founder who builds value.