Since 1995, the option of filing a provisional application has become available. After filing a provisional application, the inventor has a year in which to find adequate funding for the rest of the project. A formal utility patent application must be filed before the end of the year. Foreign patent applications in most countries must be filed by the end of the year. Setting up mechanisms to keep your trade secrets as secrets should also be explored at an early opportunity.
Copyrights are most significant in the computer software and art industries.
However, your own advertising and technical writing is also protected by copyright, and you may benefit from registering those copyrights. Patents are often the best and most lucrative form of protection for inventive concepts, but are expensive to acquire. Many people use their appointment calendars for non-invention information. Laboratory notebooks are vital for those of inventive bent. Lack of such resources can result in having to sort through hundreds of documents for needed information, substituting a guess for accurate information, or, in the worst case, loss of rights due to inability to corroborate vital information.