Entrepreneurship, Second Edition

13.6. Summing Up

Now consider the question posed at the beginning of this chapter: What parts of a handheld microprocessor-based product are protectable, and how can you protect them? You can cover the circuitry, the programming of the microprocessor, and the overall architecture and functionality of the product by patents and/or trade secrets. All the other software resident in the device could be protected by patent, too, and you could protect that same software and the screen displays by copyright. You could protect the user's manual for the product by copyright. The company name and the product name could be trademarks. The business and marketing studies and plans surrounding the product's introduction could be trade secrets—at least until the product is formally released. Sources of supplies, lists of customers, and ideas for later versions of the product could also be trade secrets. Figure 13.1 summarizes a few key aspects of the different avenues of IP protection.