Question
If you have what you think is a great idea, how do you make your idea open source and ensure that it stays that way? How do you prevent your ideas from getting stolen and patented by someone else?
Background
I recently had an idea about a programming project that I think could be revolutionary. Being a young programmer I realize that I am going to need a lot of help to make this idea come to fruition. I also realize that there are some people who might try to steal the idea and copyright it. I don’t know the steps I need to take to make sure that the idea stays open source and how to protect myself from getting the idea stolen. I don’t mind if a company decides to make money off of the idea but I do want to prevent one person or company having complete control over it. I have done some searching on the web but haven’t found a resource yet that answers my question so I ask you for your help. Any help is greatly appreciated.
Clarification
- I’m not looking to make money from
the idea. - I didn’t understand the difference
between copyright & patent but now
understand I should have asked the
question using patent instead of
copyright. (question changed) - My goal is to prevent one person or
company from locking up the idea. I
would love to have many people and
companies catch onto the vision of
the idea and run with it. (I can’t
imagine what today would be like if
only one company had the rights to
produce engines, electricity, cell
phones, computers… I think you get
the idea 😀
There are two issues to address here. Patent and copyright. Ideas, and concepts can be patented before they are implemented. Copyright only applies to the actual implemented work/code.
Firstly, if you just want to prevent the idea from being patented by someone else, all you have to do is put your self in a position where you can prove “prior art”, this would usual done by publishing the idea. Once an idea is published in the public domain no one else can patent it because you can demonstrate that you had the idea first. Obviously, this doesn’t prevent anyone else from implementing it before you do, it just means that the idea is in the public domain so you will always be free to implement it if you decide to in the future.
If however you want to retain control of the idea yourself that is much harder. You must be the one to patent it. This very much depends on where in the world you are, but is often a long an expensive process. Depending on the jurisdiction you are in it also depends on what effect publishing first will have on your patent application. Some jurisdictions have limited windows of time between publication and patent application. If this is what you want to do you will need to talk to a patent attorney who will be able to advise you. If the idea genuinely is revolutionary, take care discussing it with anyone else before you have made the decision to either file the patent application or published to prevent others from patenting. Patent attorneys should be happy to sign some form of joint non-disclosure agreement (NDA) as part of their contract before discussing the idea.
Secondly, copyright is much easier. Copyright applies only to the actual code, not the idea. Once you have implemented the code for your idea you should publish it with a copyright and license notice. The copyright should specify yourself (or your team) as the owner(s) of the work. The license should tell other people how you are going to allow them to use your copyrighted work – when you speak of open source licenses you are probably thinking of a specific kind of license that permits free usage and modification of your copyrighted code (The two aren’t necessarily the same, you can make your code open source, but still restrict its usage in your license – Microsoft have done this with lots of their code). It doesn’t grant anyone else ownership. You still own the code, but depending on what you put in your license will depend how free others are to utilise the code themselves. What’s important is that the copyright and license only apply to your code, not your idea. If you didn’t patent the idea, anyone else is totally free to re-implement your idea themselves in their own code regardless of your copyright and license restrictions.
[Edit: I’m not a lawyer – If in doubt seek professional legal advice]