It's time to start the process to get your concept to market.  There are many steps from now until then and you'll need to disclose your idea to others, including us at Idea2Success.biz (i2S.biz).  Protecting your idea is an important first step.  Do this now, before sharing your idea. 

Let's start by referring to your idea as Intellectual Property (IP),  Welcome to the world of patents, trademarks and copyrights. 

Here are your options to protect your IP:

• US Utility Patent
• Invention Disclosure Document
• Project Notebook
• Copyright
• US Provisional Patent
• Trademark

US Utility Patents can take a while to receive.  It takes time to prepare the application, be reviewed and issued by the US Patent & Trademark Office.  They are therefore not useful as the first quick step in the IP protection process.  Receiving a US Utility Patent could very possibly be one of the valuable results developed for you by i2S.biz.

For more information on the patenting process, here is an excellent book, Patent It Yourself by David Pressman.

Invention Disclosure Document is a single sheet of paper with text and drawing or photo description of your IP.  Sign and date it.  Have 2 or more witnesses read and understand the IP and sign and date the document.  This costs nothing and can be done quickly.  It could be used to establish the date of concept, although first to file with the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) would win the infringement battle and makes filing a US Provisional Patent valuable. 

A Project Notebook is another way to document your idea.  Start with a blank book with pages that can't be removed.  Number, date and initial or sign pages to document what you do for the project as you go.  You could even have witnesses sign pages to add some strength. 

Copyright laws are very powerful.  As an example, on Oct 2, 2019, President Trump tweeted a video that included the song "Photograph" without the artist's permission.  The band Nickelback had this removed for a copyright violation within a few hours. Technically, disclosing your idea to anyone in an email is a form of copyright.  It would define a date to go along with the information or image. Publishing the email or image in any form of publication would also give you a form of copyright and would have more clout than just the email to an individual. 

On the other side of the spectrum, you could register a US copyright, which is relatively easy and inexpensive.  

1. Create a document similar to an Invention Disclosure Document described above, or if you made one use it - put it into digital form as a JPG.  
   
2. Go to https://www.copyright.gov/registration/ and create an account/login.
   
3. Go through the registration process to upload your document.  
4. You can get a registered copyright for as little as $75. 

US Provisional Patent is a brief description of your IP that you might turn into a utility patent application within a year.  If an infringement issue comes up, the date that a provisional patent has been submitted will be very powerful. It's also very easy and inexpensive ($150). 

1. Take your description (which can be in the form of emails or ) and put into PDF form. 
2. Go to USPTO.gov and create a MYUSPTO account. 
   
3. Start a provisional patent application and upload your documents.  

These documents will not be reviewed and do not give you any patent rights, it just establishes a formal legal date.

Trademark protects a business name or symbol, so it isn't a very useful tool to protect your product IP during product development.

Conclusion: Immediately create an Invention Disclosure Document and file for a US Copyright &/or US Provisional Patent.  Then you can submit your idea to us here at i2S.biz or disclose it to other trusted parties, knowing you have protection.