Step 2: Protect, Protect your IP with trademark, copyright and patent

Is the idea unique? If it is, you need to decide how to build a framework that protects it.

Protection has a cost

You have an idea, a concept, a design or some other intellectual property, and you need to work out the best way to protect it. Registering all of your IP can become expensive, particularly when you or your business face other essential spending that takes priority.

There are many ways to protect IP without the costly process of registration or hiring a patent attorney,⁠^[1]⁠^[2] although registration with professional help remains the recommended approach.

Classify each asset

Once you have completed a review and identified all your intellectual property (Step 1), classify each item by asset type. You will then know what can and cannot be done to protect it, and the cost and benefit of working on that asset. There is no magic wand: different kinds of IP call for different approaches and have different implications for you or your organization.

You probably hold several types of IP, so research your rights: what may be trademarked or copyrighted, what may be kept as a trade secret, and which improvements may be patented. Each type comes with its own safeguards and its own approach.⁠^[2]

Match protection to your finances

The best approach is to treat protection as a process, applying the method that best suits your financial position. Deciding which parts of your IP need an attorney’s review can be hard, and it may seem like unwise advice. Whenever possible, it is always best to have an attorney review your entire portfolio or idea.

Depending on your industry or niche, hiring an attorney may not offer a reasonable return on investment. A technology startup, on the other hand, may need to guard its core technology as strongly as possible, sparing no expense, because that is its major asset. In a young organization with a limited budget, it is often more useful to first weigh the potential of spending on a specific product that will deliver you a return, rather than simply filing everything for a patent or other protection.

Before and after Step 2

Previous step

Step 1: Idea

The starting point is an idea, a vision, an architecture: the intellectual property that may be unique, and could be valuable if protected.

Next step

Step 3: Plan

Life goes on and things happen, even after your IP is protected. What you have created and protected needs attention too.

Protecting value, all the way to monetization

Steps 4 to 7: Policies, access, agreements, ownership

These are the important steps to monetization. Create policies around your intellectual property. Understand what access means and how to protect it. Create agreements that protect access and value. Document ownership.

Steps 8 to 10: Audits, infringement, documentation

Audit your intellectual property and the status of each asset. Understand what infringement means, and the best way to approach it, whether you are infringing or being infringed. Documentation will ultimately be the most important piece of the monetization process: think of it as a documented audit trail.

References

↑ What is copyright? U.S. Copyright Office.
a b WIPO Guide to Trade Secrets and Innovation, Part III: Basics of trade secret protection. World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).
↑ RIF Industries: Technology and intellectual property. Maynard L. Dokken, the record. maynardldokken.com/rif-industries/#technology

Every source above was opened and checked on 3 November 2026.