Legal Question in Intellectual Property in West Virginia

Re: Protecting Business Idea

Your question is too vague for much of an answer. However, I will suggest that you consult a registered patent attorney and have a patent search done to see if it is patentable. You should give the business a service mark that is protectible so that if no patent protection is available, you at least have a service mark that people can not copy. Keeping it secret is protection, but once you start doing business using the business idea, the trade secret is gone. Read the State Street decision and that will give you a pretty good capsule of the current law on the patentability of business methods. You can visit my website www.burdlaw.com for more information.