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You have a great business concept, and you want to take it to the next level.
However, before doing so, it is important to protect your ideas with the use of copyrights, patents, and trademarks.
This article will talk more in-depth about the three fundamental steps to ensure you’re protecting your business idea.
1) Register it through the United States Patent and Trademark Office
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is the governmental body that registers patents, trademarks, and copyrights. If protecting your idea more formally is something you are interested in doing, it would be best to become familiar with this office early on.
The USPTO has an incredibly easy online application for applying for a trademark. Once your trademark is accepted, protecting it becomes much easier and less expensive than if you tried to do so on your own later down the road.
2) Record your invention in a journal or on a blog post
Another more informal way of securing your business idea is through journals or a blog post to record your creation. This may end up being your only step in protecting yourself if the concept you have happens to be incredibly unique and specific.
However, this is also an excellent way of protecting what could potentially become a patentable invention later on down the road. Keeping detailed notes about how you arrived at your business idea or creation can help support its future.
3) Include an NDA when sharing ideas with others
In addition to the previews steps, you can also have an NDA or non-disclosure agreement. This usually involves you signing a legal document that prohibits the person or party from sharing any information about what was discussed during the conversation.
This will help keep ideas secure and should be utilized if other parties are involved in creating them.
