Legal Question in Intellectual Property in New Jersey

Protecting your Conceptual Ideas

I can't tell you based on the wording what to do. However a copyright will only protect an original idea when it is expressed in a tangible media such as print. In contrast for this idea to be patented it must fit within one of the groups of things which a patent can be granted for. It must also be reduced to practice, either having made a working model or having file a patent application, including a provisional application.

Most attorneys who do patent work will talk to you for a half hour to give you direction and then hopefully you will become their client. My advice to you based soley on the information presented is to seek out a patent attorney in your area who can advise you on the matter. The other outfits sometimes aren't too ethical, I have had several instances where people lost a lot of money, since they usually require money upfront.

Good Luck!!!

Where to go with an idea

Patrick Tracy's right: A copyright is fine for protecting the "expression" of an idea, but it doesn't stop anyone from reading the expression and then making an embodiment of it or from writing a new expression of the idea. The good news is that anything that someone writes down (and thus fixes in a tangible medium of expression, namely paper) is automatically protected by copyright. It's desirable to register that copyright to get additional protection.

A patent is another form of "intellectual property," which creates a right to exclude others from making, using, selling or importing anything that is described in a set of formal "claims" that appear as numbered paragraphs at the end of the patent. I am a registered U.S. patent attorney. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) has a Web Site at http://www.uspto.gov

A patent claim can be written to protect a new or improved machine, manufactured article, composition of matter or process. An "idea" that can be made concrete in the form of one of more of those categories can be protected by a patent claim, provided that the claim defines subject matter that is new and is not an obvious combination of known elements. We patent attorneys typically compare our clients' inventions with known stuff (called "prior art") and advise what about an invention can be protected by a patent claim. Then we assist by preparing a description of the invention that meets the legal requirement that the disclosure be complete enough to "enable" someone skilled in the field to make and use the invention.

You asked about invention marketing companies. Both the Federal Trade Commission and the PTO have issued statements during the past few years suggesting that inventors be cautious in dealing with them. Many have gained a lot of dissatisfied customers and have been prosecuted for misrepresentation. On the other hand, there ARE reputable licensing agents around, many including members of the Licensing Executives Society (in which I participate). See http://www.les.org