The first step in protecting intellectual property is to identify it. Intellectual property includes all information that is commercially valuable or that could be competitively harmful to the business if made known to others. Categories of information that are often commercially important include technical and scientific information, research and development information, industry and business marketing information, forecasting plans and projections, competitive analyses, accounting and financial information, and strategic reports.

To identify commercially important information, a business must identify and review all types of information that it generates and then consider whether each type of information is commercially valuable. Identifying all of a business's intellectual property requires the in volvement of the entire business. Different types of information generated by different departments must be identified and analyzed for commercial importance. Businesses should initially evaluate and catalog intellectual property and should then establish a framework to identify subsequently produced intellectual property.

The second step in protecting commercially important information is to determine the best methods of protection. Trademark law, copyright law, patent law, and trade secret law are the four areas of law most commonly used to protect intellectual property: trademark law is used to protect words, names, and symbols used in connection with goods or services to help consumers identify the goods and services; copyright law is used to protect original works of authorship fixed in a tangible medium of expression (i.e., literature, music, visual art, sound recordings, and computer programs-just to name a few); patent law can protect new and useful processes, machines, and compositions that are novel and unobvious; and trade secret law protects almost all concrete information that derives economic value from not being generally known to other persons. One or more of these areas of law can almost always be used by businesses to protect intellectual property and businesses must seriously consider which area of law or which combination to use to best protect these assets.

The final step in protecting commercially important information is to establish appropriate protection policies and procedures. In the case of trademarks, the business must select protectable trademarks. Businesses should assure themselves that the trademarks they seek to use are notalready in use and should consider using fanciful, non-descriptive trademarks. Moreover, after selecting a trademark, the business should consider registering the trademark and should maintain and protect the trademark so it does not fall into the public domain.

In the case of copyrights, businesses must use assignments to insure that copyrightable material generated or created by non-employees such as independent contractors is, in fact, the property of the business. Moreover, the business should put proper notice of copyright on the item and should consider copyright registration.

In the case of patentable material, businesses must establish procedures to prevent publication of the material, since publication may destroy the patentability of the invention. Moreover, businesses must take adequate secondary steps, such as trade secret protections, to protect new inventions in the event a patent is not issued.

Finally, in the case of trade secrets, businesses must implement confidentiality procedures designed to preserve the secrecy of all trade secret information. Such policies must be made known to and followed by every employee of the business. In this regard, a business should consider which, if any, employees or categories of employees should be required to enter into non-disclosure agreements and/or covenants not to compete with the business.