If you're concerned about it, then just make sure the IP doesn't live entirely in the extension itself with a simple third-party authentication & payment system.

There are more than a few companies set up like this already. SalesLoft started as a paid Chrome extension!

Yeah having the IP live on the server instead of the extension itself should be enough to keep things safe.

Interesting about SalesLoft, didn't know they started out as a chrome extension :D

I wouldn't worry about this. If a competitor literally uses your code that's copyright infringement. For the vast major of apps you don't need to look at their code to figure out how to replicate them anyway. Minifying your code will make it unpleasant enough to look at the source files.

when i comes to monetize, that depends on what kind of application you're making, just like a website you can use freemium model, a premium one, you can run ads on it.. as i said, it greatly depends on the type of extension you're creating

http://www.gmass.co/