Legal Question in Intellectual Property in New York

Re: The Brink of Money

That's a fair general question. The bad news is that there isn't any way to protect an "idea" as such, unless you can get somebody else to agree to keep it confidential and not use it unless they compensate you. That would be known as a "confidential disclosure agreement" or "confidenfiality agreement" or "trade secret agreement" or similar term.

Copyright does not protect an idea, though it can be used to protect the EXPRESSION of an idea.

Trademark does not protect an idea. A trademark can be used to protect the name or logo associated with a particular product or service.

A patent comes close to being able to protect an idea, but only when that idea has been made definite and complete enough to be considered an "invention." Consider an "invention" to be an idea PLUS the means to make that idea happen in the real world.

I hope this helps you gain the terminology to consider more carefully which tools would be appropriate to protect the "idea" you are talking about. For specific advice, consult an attorney who practices in the field of "intellectual property law."

Re: The Brink of Money

I think the initial answer and explaination to your question is a decent explaination of the concepts that you need to understand in order to best evaluate your idea.

In addition you should probably take some time to understand the options that you may have under the Patent Laws in order to protect your invention, idea, method or other intellectual property.

Under the law, you can patent an invention or method if that invention or method is "new, useful and unobvious." If one skilled in the art in which your invention is used would deem the invention new useful and unobvious, there is a good chance that you may be able to protect that invention or method. Methods that can be protected include processes and methods of doing business.

Hopefully this has been helpful to you.