How can patenting my inventions help me protect my crown jewels?

Your best ideas and inventions many times are the most valuable piece of property you or your business owns - they are your intellectual property and need to be nurtured and protected. Just like other forms of property we don't want others to use them without our explicit permission.
Patenting your inventions can be a powerful tool for protecting your intellectual property. Once granted, patents provide an exclusive right granted by a government to exclude others from making, using or selling (or importing) what you’ve created without your permission. In the United States, patents are applied for, examined by, and granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. As a trade for this exclusive right, you must provide a technical description that teaches the public how to do/build your invention - the product or process that, in general, provides a new way to do something or offers a new technical solution to a problem. After the patent expires, the public can then practice your invention.
Patents protect functional things - systems, devices, methods, processes, etc. that do something or cause something to happen. Other forms of intellectual property protection such as copyrights protect expression - or "look and feel" but not how things function. Trademarks protect words, phrases, and/or images that are used to identify the source of a good or service.
So why bother to patent your products, technology, and how you do what you do?
Patents provide a means for deterring others from 'stealing' your invention - from making, using, and selling it without your permission.
To actually stop an infringement from occurring, you must enforce the patent against an infringer ... But in the meantime, the granted patent can serve as a deterrent by marking your products with the relevant patent numbers so that others know you've protected your rights and how to look up those rights. You can also publicize those rights so that your competitors are aware that you have them.
Patents provide a marketing advantage and appeal
Once you file a patent application that covers your technology or product, you are authorized to advertise that the technology or product is "patent pending." This signifies to the market that the technology or product is associated with quality - after all, why would you bother to spend your hard-earned money to protect it, if it wasn't worth it? In addition, for a patent to be granted it must be truly new and non-obvious - a contribution to the world of innovation. Patent examination is a rigorous process, and a patent pending status signifies that your innovation is worthy of consideration.
Patent protection is often a requirement for obtaining outside funding
In today's world, it is common for third party investors to require a patent-pending status of key product technology as a prerequisite to funding your early-stage venture. Therefore, it can be crucial to file a patent application addressing your invention before any due diligence by outside funders. Additionally, once filed, what you disclose about your invention can be made public. Often investors are unwilling to sign non-disclosure/confidentiality agreements, so a patent application filing can protect you from inadvertent disclosure of the trade secrets associated with your new product/technology.
Patent protection may provide a cross-licensing bartering tool
It is important to note that having a patent of your own that protects your product or technology doesn't necessarily mean you have a license to actually make it. You must ensure that you aren't infringing someone else's rights, as they may have rights to some component or aspect required by you to make your product or technology. When we go to market, we are not always aware of all of the intellectual property rights of others - even when we do extensive "freedom to operate" searches. Thus, there is always some risk that the products or technology we produce steps on someone else's patent rights. If someone else attempts to enforce their patent rights against you or your company, it can be advantageous to have your own patent(s) to potentially negotiate a cross-license with them instead of ending up defending a lawsuit.
Patent protection may serve to block your competition
In crowded fields with many innovations and contributors, identifying where your competition is likely to innovate next can signal a powerful area of "blank space" where you can innovate first and protect these innovations with patents. These patents can then provide intellectual property rights that potentially block your competitors from improving their own technology the "best" way possible, thus putting them at a competitive disadvantage in the marketplace. Such a strategy can be used by industry disrupter companies against competitors that have dominated the market for some time.
These are just some of the many reasons why you should consider protecting your key innovations with patents. Please feel free to contact me for further strategic input.