Your best approach is to develop the idea into a concept so that you can protect it with a copyright registration. Also use NDAs that refer to Trade Secret law.

You have some options, depending on what you want to protect. I am familiar with these matters. You can send me an email to discuss in more detail.

Best,

Daniel Bakondi, Esq.

danielbakondi@yahoo.com

415-450-0424

The Law Office of Daniel Bakondi, APLC

870 Market Street, Suite 1161

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http://www.danielbakondi.com

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Ideas as such aren't protectable by copyright or trademark. In some cases an idea can be patented if it is a new and useful invention, process, composition of matter, etc. People have been known to successfully patent "business models." Even so the object of a patent has to be non-obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the field. See http://www.tms.org/pubs/journals/JOM/matters/matters-9410.html

All you've disclosed is that the idea is to have a website and, to paraphrase the late astronomer Carl Sagan, there are already billions and billions of websites.

Let's assume for the sake of argument that you've reduced the concept of "America's Got Talent" to a website and ordinary people can "X" the performers themselves, thus saving the producers the cost of Howie et al. Let's then assume your patent lawyer (I'm not a patent lawyer) persuades the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office to issue a patent. You then have the problem of what to do when some copycat copies your concept. Usually web copycats are in some foreign country where it's difficult to sue them. Or you sue a U.S. infringer and they countersue to declare your patent invalid. All this gets expensive, and the results uncertain.

What you are probably left with, cost-effectiveness-wise, is to trademark the domain name and register your copyright in the website.

BTW, what's wrong with this picture? Your guy is a famous celebrity and he doesn't already have an attorney in his entourage?

In my humble opinion, the first two answers are not helpful. Copyright protects works of creativity and authorship. "You have options" is not an answer. Mr. Stone is closer to the mark.

Basically, the way to protect a great idea for a new business is to keep it as secret as possible while you rush to get the business up and running and well established. Reveal your ideas as sparingly as possible. Reveal your ideas to trustworthy people and entities. Use agreements where possible. Don't put anything out on the Internet; if your idea is any good at all, ten thousand scamsters will jump all over it.

The usefulness of patents, trademarks and copyrights to protect business ideas (as that expression is customarily used) is not very great, indeed often close to zero. Trade secrets such as business ideas are best protected by limiting disclosure to trustworthy types and/or the use of written (nondisclosure, non-compete, etc.) agreements.

As a Franchise Attorney I agree with Mr. Whipple's answer. In late 2008, the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C. ruled that business methods are not patentable unless they meet fairly narrow rules. There’s a two-pronged test to determine whether a software of business method process patent is valid: Test #1 - it is tied to a particular machine or apparatus, or Test#2 - it transforms a particular article into a different state or thing. In other words, pure software or business method patents that are neither tied to a specific machine nor change something into a different state are not patentable. Trade secret protection has always been the best way to protect business methods and ideas. Consult with a good business or franchise attorney in your area for specific advice.

Mr. Franchise - Kevin B. Murphy, B.S., M.B.A., J.D.

Franchise Foundations, a Professional Corporation