How Do I Protect My New Product Innovation?

Protect your new product innovation by filing a patent application with the USPTO to protect your intellectual property from infringement. Creators can file for patent prosecution of their invention to give them exclusive rights to their novel and non-obvious creation. Do a prior art search for existing designs before drafting a claim or getting a provisional patent. Patent monopoly protections include utility patents for new inventions and design patents for creative designs. Talk to a patent lawyer about protecting your patent before public disclosure of your trade secrets.

When Trade Secret Protection May Be Your Best Option

If the product is not easily reverse-engineered or independently developed, then trade-secret protection may be most cost-effective. However, trade-secret status depends, in part, upon the inventor’s efforts to preserve confidentiality.

At a minimum, development and product feature information should remain encrypted on a stand-alone computer or disk and not attached to a computer network or internet.

Minimal staff should have access to the information, and access should be conditioned upon “need to know.” All employees, as well as independent contractors and vendors, should sign confidentiality agreements. Physical entry to the development premises should be exclusively via an authorized key card.

Protect Your Invention with a Patent

Patenting your invention is a complex process. Find a qualified patent lawyer in the Super Lawyers directory who can guide you through the legal process.

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When Patent Protection Is Your Best Option

If the product is easily reverse-engineered, independently developed, and/or includes accessible/visible innovative features, then a utility and/or design patent should immediately be filed in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

If possible, the applicant should request that the patent office refrain from publishing the application on its official website. In particular, for innovative software or related subject matter, at least one copyright protection registration application should be submitted to the U.S. Copyright Office and, thereafter, immediately followed by submission of a U.S. utility patent and/or design application. 

Find an Experienced Intellectual Property Lawyer

All IP protections should be in place prior to the development—even if there is a prior decision to patent—and this includes contacting a patent attorney for legal advice. If you’d like more general information about intellectual property protection, see our overview of patent law and intellectual property rights.

Adrienne B. Naumann is an attorney at the Law Office of Adrienne B. Naumann in Skokie, Illinois.