Often the hardest part of figuring out how to protect an idea is in determining the most appropriate type of protection. This process is further complicated by the fact that ideas, as such, aren’t really protected. Instead, what you can protect is the expression of an idea in the form of a product, a book or computer program, a painting or photograph, or even a name for a product or service.

1. Patents
Patents are appropriate for “useful things” or methods of doing something. There are three main kinds of patents. Utility patents cover “inventions” – a machine, an article of manufacture, a method of doing something, a chemical or DNA sequence or the method of its use, products of genetic engineering, or improvements to any of these things. Plant patents may be granted to anyone who invents or discovers, and reproduces, a new variety of certain kinds of
plants (other types of plants, especially those altered by genetic engineering, may be protectable under utility patents). Design patents cover the ornamental appearance of a useful device but not its function. For example,the “Swoosh” on the side of a Nike sneaker was the subject of a design patent.

2. Trademarks
Trademarks cover the name or some other symbol (i.e. logo) that represents the source of a product or service. Sometimes the appearance of a product or its packaging can be considered a trademark (called “trade dress”). For example, the name Coca-Cola, or the shape of a Coke bottle are registered trademarks. In rare instances, other things such as sounds (Tarzan’s yell or the MGM lion’s roar), a sequence of notes (the NBC chimes), a piece of music (the the Lone Ranger theme), colors (pink Fiberglas insulation), or even fragrances (a floral scent applied to Clarke thread) – may be registered as trademarks.

3. Copyrights
Copyrights protect works of authorship, composition, or artistry. Copyrights cover books, sculptures, paintings or photographs, computer programs, architectural works, movies and records, musical compositions, etc. In the case of musical recordings, the copyright may extend to the music itself (tune and lyrics) and also to a recording of the performance.

4. Trade secrets
This protection is available, as the name suggests, for secrets used in business-the method of making a product or the ingredients that go into it, customer or prospect lists, any fact, which, if known, would give your competition an advantage. The inner workings (algorithms, source code) of computer programs are often protected as trade secrets. The formula for Coca-Cola is a famous example of a trade secret.