Intellectual-property strategy is the decision that comes before all the others: what a business actually owns, which parts of it are worth spending money to protect, and which are better left alone or deliberately given away.

The choice is rarely between protecting and not protecting. It is between forms of protection that trade against each other. Something kept as a trade secret cannot also be published. A name defended everywhere costs more than a name defended where you actually sell. Effort spent on a peripheral asset is effort not spent on the one that matters most.

The framing changes with the stage. An early company needs enough protection to survive diligence without burning capital on a portfolio it will outgrow. A company with something worth copying needs to know which asset that is, and whether the protection around it would survive contact with a determined opponent.

The useful output is not a filing. It is a short, honest map: here is what you own, here is what is exposed, here is what to do first, and here is what to stop paying for.