Advise me the legal issues on intellectual property and the legal methods that i can employ to protect intellectual property belonging to my busines

Myself and 2 business partners have recently started a business, named Zizi Software House (ZSH). I'm the principal capital contributor, holding 60% interest my business partners own 20% interest each. ZSH's core business is to develop specialised software solutions for banks and finance companies. I designs the software myself and employs Andrew, an experienced programmer, to assist me. My 2 business partners are involved in the operation and marketing of the business. To promote my business further, i employs Ben to create an e-commerce site for ZSH to sell `off-the-shelf' software to a worldwide market. Already, i have received orders from Europe and the Middle East for my software. In addition to the above, to heed the government's call for innovation, I'm planning to set up a Research & Development department under ZSH to create new products to diversify ZSH's existing business. I'm planning to appoint Yoyo, a renowned inventor, to head his R&D department.