can someone copyright a software idea?

I have an idea which can build linking automatically. then I developed the software. can I apply a patent for this software, so others can not develop a similar software?

Since technically, the idea is simple, others may develop similar products very quickly. Do I have any choice to protect the idea/software?


thanks


Temp

 

a patent is the way to go, costly, but if your idea is brilliant, so very worth it.

 

Even if you get a patent companies will tweak the product-idea a bit and utilize it. So stop worrying just develop your product and get a patent. After all you will be the pioneer of an original idea.

 

You're making the assumption that your idea isn't already covered by existing patents, which it could well be irrespective of how original you think it is...

 

You can copyright the software to prevent somebody copying it and redistributing it.

A patent would only be granted for the implementation of the idea and the method your software uses to do this.

If the software is a great idea but the method and process used to implement the idea is not unique, or if its already patented, then you will not be granted a patent.

 

Think it this way, can I say:

if someone had a product that I could develop with new approach and user interface, legally, I could do it and they could not get me into any trouble?


thanks


Temp

 

thats correct. its like making a game of pong or a game of tetris. you wont be sued. or a FPS or an RPG think the first person who made one of those types of games is going to hunt everyone down?

 

Nope. Patents cover ideas, not interfaces or implementations (those are covered by copyright).

If someone writes program X and gets a patent for the function that program performs, you can't write a program which does the same thing, even with a different interface or a different approach, without infringing on the patent.

 

This is incorrect. A patent covers the implementation of a process rather than the actual idea. The process has to have an inventive step to qualify for a patent.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patent
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_patent

Saying that a patent is given for an idea would allow me to patent a mousetrap without offering any ideas on how to achieve this. I could patent an invention of a new kind of mousetrap if it was suitably inventive.

Patents are generally intended to cover products or processes that possess or contain new functional or technical aspects; patents are therefore concerned with, for example, how things work, what they do, how they do it, what they are made of or how they are made.

Copyright stops people copying your software/invention/product and redistributing it.

 

Temp, the important lesson I learned when I discovered people trying to clone Article Distributor was that so long as they didn't use my code, they could make something damned near identical with a different programming language and be safe.

 

Read the link in my sig on patent law. A Patent is definately the way to go with software.
You may also want to search www.gigalaw.com for software patents.