Kary Oberbrunner and Katherine Rubino Release Second Book in the You Are an IP Company Series

Boston, Massachusetts, September 16th, 2026, FinanceWire

The Instant IP CEO and Wiggin and Dana partner unite entrepreneurial experience and legal insight in a practical guide to protecting human ideas in the age of AI

Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestselling author Kary Oberbrunner and intellectual property attorney Katherine Rubino have released You Are an IP Company Activation Guide: 12 Thinking Tools to Find, Protect, and Leverage Your Intellectual Property in the Age of AI.

The book is the second installment in the You Are an IP Company series created by Oberbrunner and Rubino, a Partner at Wiggin and Dana LLP.

Their first book, You Are an IP Company: Find, Protect, and Leverage Your Intellectual Property, introduced a foundational idea: every entrepreneur, creator, and organization possesses intellectual property, whether they realize it or not.

The new Activation Guide takes the next step by showing readers what to do with that realization.

“The first book helps people see intellectual property differently,” said Oberbrunner, CEO of Instant IP and Igniting Souls. “The Activation Guide helps them act differently. Awareness is important, but awareness alone does not protect an idea, strengthen a company, or create enterprise value.”

From IP Awareness to IP Action

Oberbrunner and Rubino wrote the second book to close the widening gap between understanding intellectual property and taking practical action to apply the framework to businesses and protect it.

Artificial intelligence has dramatically increased the speed and scale at which books, frameworks, strategies, brand elements, internal systems, and other original work can be copied, repurposed, and commercialized. At the same time, many business owners still assume intellectual property is relevant only to large corporations, inventors, or companies pursuing patents.

The authors demonstrate how intellectual property has become one of the most valuable yet overlooked drivers of enterprise value.

“Intellectual property is often much broader than business leaders initially recognize,” said Rubino. “Valuable assets can be embedded throughout a company’s operations, relationships, content, processes, and commercial strategy. We created this guide to help readers ask better questions, identify those assets earlier, and make more intentional decisions about how they protect and use them.”

The Activation Guide gives readers a practical operating rhythm:

Find. Protect. Leverage.

Through 12 thinking tools, readers learn how to uncover hidden intellectual property, organize proprietary assets, develop stronger naming and positioning, document ownership, establish healthier protection practices, and identify potential monetization opportunities.

Combining Entrepreneurial Execution and Legal Insight

The collaboration brings together two complementary perspectives.

Oberbrunner contributes decades of experience as an author, publisher, entrepreneur, educator, and creator-protection advocate. After discovering that several of his own books had been included in datasets associated with artificial intelligence training, the issue became deeply personal. His experience helped fuel the development of Instant IP, a patented technology platform designed to help creators establish evidence and chain of custody for their original ideas.

Rubino brings extensive legal experience as a Partner at Wiggin and Dana LLP. Her practice includes intellectual property transactions, licensing, strategic partnerships, research collaborations, and the commercial agreements that enable organizations to develop and leverage valuable intellectual assets. She is qualified in the United States, England, and Wales.

“Katie brings extraordinary legal intelligence and precision to this work,” Oberbrunner said. “She understands how intellectual property functions inside sophisticated companies, transactions, partnerships, and licensing opportunities. I understand the speed at which entrepreneurs and creators operate. Together, we wanted to build a bridge between those two worlds.”

Rubino added, “Kary has a unique ability to help people recognize intellectual property within the work they are already doing. The Activation Guide turns concepts that can feel technical or intimidating into practical tools people can apply throughout the life cycle of an idea or business.”

Protect Before You Promote

Unlike a traditional legal textbook, the Activation Guide is designed as a working playbook. Its tools help entrepreneurs, authors, executives, educators, and creators take concrete steps before publishing, pitching, promoting, licensing, or commercializing their work.

The book also distinguishes between documenting an idea, preserving evidence, maintaining confidentiality, securing formal legal rights, and developing a long-term intellectual property strategy. The authors encourage readers to build consistent IP hygiene into their everyday creative and business workflows.

“AI changed who can copy ideas at scale and how quickly they can do it,” Oberbrunner said. “Human creativity is becoming more valuable, not less valuable. But talking about intellectual property does not protect intellectual property. Action does.”

“Our goal is to help people move from uncertainty to informed action,” Rubino said. “When leaders understand what they have and involve the right resources at the right time, they are better positioned to protect their work, pursue opportunities, and build lasting value.”

Together, Oberbrunner and Rubino are advancing a shared message through the You Are an IP Company series: the world does not need fewer creators. It needs more informed, intentional, and protected creators.

About the Co-Authors

Kary Oberbrunner is a Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestselling author, entrepreneur, and CEO of Instant IP and Igniting Souls. He serves as the Berry Chair of Entrepreneurship at Cedarville University and speaks internationally on entrepreneurship, intellectual property, leadership, and human performance. Through his companies, books, and educational programs, he helps authors, entrepreneurs, and organizations find, protect, and leverage their intellectual property.

Katherine “Katie” Rubino is a Partner at Wiggin and Dana LLP. Her practice focuses on intellectual property transactions, licensing, strategic partnerships, and research collaborations, including work with organizations developing and commercializing intellectual assets. She is qualified in the United States, England, and Wales.

Together, Oberbrunner and Rubino co-authored You Are an IP Company and the You Are an IP Company Activation Guide to help creators and companies recognize, protect, and leverage the ideas that make them valuable.

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