How to Copyright a Business Plan
There are two reasons you may want to copyright a business plan. One is that you describe an approach or technique that you fear could be copied and used by competitors. The other is that your business is to sell sample business plans to entrepreneurs. In the first instance, copyright may not give you the protection you seek. In the latter example, a copyright is vital.
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Instructions
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Fix a work "in a tangible form," such as writing and distributing a business plan, and you own the copyright automatically according to U.S. Copyright law. There are legal advantages to registering a copyright which are particularly valuable for literary and creative works.
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Seek other ways to protect your business ideas, because copyright law explicitly does not protect ideas, methods of operations, facts or systems--only the way they're expressed. In a business plan, only the words you used to describe your plan, i.e., the document itself, falls under copyright law. To protect your business, you need to turn to laws governing patents, trademarks and non-disclosure agreements.
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Protect sample or prototype business plans you intend to sell to clients by putting a prominent copyright notice on the document. Anyone who takes one or more of your prototype business plans and attempts to sell them as his own to other entrepreneurs can be sued and even face criminal prosecution for copyright infringement, and can't claim ignorance that your work was copyrighted.
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Explain in detail in a written notice how a client can use and adapt your prototype plans for her business, and explicitly state that anyone who purchases one of your plans is prohibited from copying your work to share or sell to others. The copyright does not prohibit her from sharing the plan she adapts from your work to further her original business endeavor.
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Register your plan with the U.S. Copyright office, preferably online through its website. Though not required, registration does create a public record of your copyright, and allows you to collect statutory damages and attorney's fees instead of just actual damages in case of infringement.
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