Protect Your Idea

Innovators need to consider protecting their business ideas, models and/or products and services to optimize their chance and magnitude of success.




Intellectual Property (IP) can arise in a number of forms, including:

  • Patents: novel devices, business methods, compositions of matter, plant varieties, designs, etc.
  • Copyrights: software, web content, and other creative works
  • Trademarks: business names, logos and marks
  • Trade secrets


When protecting your idea, three key considerations are:

…whether innovators should file for any type of specific intellectual property protection.

…whether innovators have freedom to operate relative to the intellectual property of others.

…the types of agreements founders should use with others, relating to their inventions.


These law firms can help with intellectual property issues: