Patents, Trademarks, and Trade Secrets
Copyright protects your code automatically, but the other three kinds of intellectual property protect entirely different things and work in entirely different ways — one guards inventions in exchange for public disclosure, one guards your brand name and logo, and one guards secrets simply by keeping them secret. Each has its own logic, cost, and strategic use, and knowing which protects what (and when each is worth pursuing) rounds out an engineer's IP literacy. (Educational, not legal advice.)
Copyright protects your code automatically, but the other three kinds of IP protect entirely different things in entirely different ways — one guards inventions for public disclosure, one guards your brand, one guards secrets by keeping them secret. Knowing which protects what rounds out an engineer's IP literacy. (Educational, not legal advice.)