To Do List: Five Ways To Protect Your Intellectual PropertyTo Do List: Five Ways To Protect Your Intellectual Property

Enlist an outside expert to conduct an intellectual-property audit, letting a fresh set of eyes take stock of intangible assets.

Form an internal committee or board to make decisions on what needs to be protected and how to protect it, and encourage IT staff to submit inventions and ideas for consideration.

Emphasize a mix of patents, copyrights, trademarks, and trade secrets to ensure that you're protecting everything of value and hedging against changes in intellectual-property law.

Don't focus on breakthrough inventions and ideas at the expense of subsequent enhancements. Sometimes, the tinkering that makes things faster, better, or cheaper can be more valuable than the original invention or idea.

Treat trade secrets like real secrets. Have employees sign nondisclosure agreements, restrict access to areas where valuable information is kept, and use tools de- signed to protect programming code.