Patent a Business idea Viable business opportunity

Although it’s not possible to patent a business idea, a smart strategy is to associate its core processes and results with a brand that represents the value delivered to customers. If the business model proves successful, the brand is likely to increase in value over time. Therefore, registering the trademark that represents the business model is one of the most viable and common options.

Sometimes by mistake, people consider the possibility of patenting a business idea or protecting the overall model. However, many startups with these concerns have actually developed products or software solutions that support the successful operation of the business. Software patents or trade secret methods to protect these solutions are among the most commonly used protection strategies.

Developing a business model requires interacting with third parties, suppliers, clients, and collaborators essential to its operation. In many cases, entrepreneurs feel significantly limited due to the lack of protection, as it is not possible to patent a business idea. However, using confidentiality agreements (NDAs) is one of the most common methods for establishing secure environments that allow sharing business ideas safely.

Copyright is always an available protection option. It is the most common method used to protect processes, instructions, recipes, and other types of creative content that can be documented. While this method is not often used to protect business ideas, it’s true that defending any kind of business idea patent presents significant limitations.

A trade secret is not a patent for business ideas. It is a method or a set of procedures established to safeguard the critical secrets that influence the proper functioning of a business idea.

Franchise models are successful as long as franchisees have the capacity and tools to accurately replicate the key procedures of a business model. However, expanding through a franchise model does not require revealing the core business secrets, while still allowing you to maximize the value of the idea due to the speed and scalability that franchising offers.