IP CHECKLIST: FINDING AND PROTECTING IP IN YOUR BUSINESS
Name_____________________________________________
Aspect of Your Business
Form of IP Protection
Apply to My Business Details?
Business Identity
Business name and logos
Trademark/service mark
Fictitious name registration, incorporation
(C-corp, LLC, etc. – consider in your home state versus an “away” state)
URL in multiple domains (.com, net, org, biz,.us, .org etc.)
Digital watermarking for logos, TM/SM
Business Materials
Brochures, sales materials publicly visible on your website
Copyright (or creative Commons)
Digital watermarking for your photos, logos, audio, and video
Documents, forms and spreadsheets used
by your firms to make decisions or perform evaluations
Trade secret
Your customer list or database
Trade secret
Your catalog
Copyright (or Creative Commons) (design may be covered by Trade Dress) digital watermarking for the electronic copy
Your price list
Trade secret
Your investors or funding sources
Trade secret (except where disclosure is requires by law)
Interactive web elements like Tweets, posting, blogs, video, podcasts, etc.
Copyright (or Creative Commons) (design elements may be protected by rade dress or design patents or both), digital watermarking for your photos, logos, audio and video
Uniforms or décor specialized for your business
Trade dress
Specialized designs used elsewhere in your business (e.g. magazine covers, custom packaging)
Trade dress
Product/Service and its Design
Name of your product or service
Trademark/service mark, URL in multiple domains (e.g. dietcoke.com, .net, etc.
Distinctive product design (e.g. Coke Bottle)
Design patent
Your product (if it does something new or in a new way)
Patent
Your type of business service if it is new or different (e.g. Amazon’s one-click ordering)
Business method patent
The process underlying your service (if it is new or does things in a new way)
Business method patent
Internal code of your website, esp. code that “does the work” of the website
Trade secret (also use techniques like server-side scripting so the user cannot see the code that contains your “secret sauce”. Patent (where possible)
Web mash-ups, widgets, gadgets (if something new or different)
Business method patent, permission from data sources
Your method for legally decreasing or deferring taxes
Tax patent
A new chemical process or product
Chemical patent
A new circuit or computer chip
Electrical patent
A biological organism or a new gene sequence
Biological/gene patent
Business Partnering
Use of brand names (and/or logos) of components or services used by your firm
Permission of the vendor
Use of brand names (and/or logos) of customers of your firm
Permission of the customer