Copyrights do NOT protect the idea behind the words. Copyright ONLY protects the artistic nature of the words on the page or the way it is written.

Unfortunately, a copyright won't protect your business idea -- it just protects the words themselves (such as prohibiting someone from copying a chapter of a book and claiming it is their own). And, you can't even patent the 'new product idea' in your business plan anyways. A patent requires you to "reduce the invention to practice," which means you can't get protection for just an idea. You have to actually make/build/create/design your product to get patent protection. For many people at a 'business plan' stage of their business, patents are cost-prohibitive anyways.

So, the better question is, how can your do your best to keep your business plan confidential and proprietary?

The first thing to remember -- consider limiting any disclosure of proprietary information in a business plan, especially in an executive summary business plan you are sharing with potential investors initially. No need to disclose the 'secret sauce' if you don't have to. If these investors like the general picture and want to dig under the hood further, then you can consider sharing more proprietary information.

One of the common practices to protect confidential/proprietary information being discussed is getting people who you plan to discuss or show your business plan to sign a nondisclosure agreement (NDA). Many professional investors will not sign NDAs to view a business plan since they tend to see so many similar business plans. So getting potential investors or others to sign an NDA may not always be an option, but you should still take steps to provide some protection on your business plan itself.

What about putting words like 'confidential' or 'proprietary' on the cover? Use of the language “confidential and proprietary” may not provide the same level of protection as a non-disclosure agreement, but some courts have held that in a scenario where a person or persons were aware that they had been exposed to a trade secret, they would be barred from using it or disclosing it to others without permission. Is it lock-tight protection -- no, but it is something. Take steps where possible to protect your proprietary information, and remember that when you cannot get an NDA signed to trust your gut — make sure to ask around before disclosing to a potential investor if you are wary of their reputation.

One tip -- On the cover page of your business plan, state (in bold text) that the business plan is confidential and proprietary. This doesn't automatically provide you any formal protections (other than potentially some trade secrets if they are disclosed), but it can make people think twice about disclosing key information from you business plan.

As mentioned above, the copyright protects the business plan itself. In other words, your copyright protection will be pretty much worthless :-P

However, if your business plan is "enabling" (i.e., it describes an invention, and how to make the invention), you might want to consider filing your business plan as a provisional patent application (http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/provapp.htm). By doing this, you establish your date of invention, and thus in the future you may have an easier time obtaining a patent once you file a non-provisional patent application.

REMEMBER: if you file a provisional patent application, you have one year from the date of filing to file a non-provisional patent application.

ALSO remember: you have a "bar date", that is, one year from the date you make your invention public to file a patent application (you can file a provisional or a non-provisional in order to beat the bar date). If your business plan discloses your invention, this starts the clock on your bar date.

I strongly advise you seek the services of a patent attorney to specifically go over the facts of your case for you and help advise you on how to proceed.

**This post does not constitute legal advice, nor does it create any attorney-client relationship between Sadiq Ansari and any other individual or entity.**