Is there any way I can legally protect peoples ideas for websites/businesses, from potential thieves? For example, if they post a topic regarding a certain website idea, is there anything I can do to prevent people from stealing this idea?
Its not too likely that someone will steal an idea or that I can find a way to do something like this?
Patents can qualify for anything IF IT's ORIGINAL. Patents are VERY VERY expensive to acquire. Tens of thousands....possibly hundreds of thousands.
Ideas are worth dime a dozen. Its very likely that any idea you come up with has already though by somebody else. AFAIK, patents are awarded for 'unobvious' inventions.[I don't know the legal definition of 'obvious']. Patenting an idea is going to cost you so much that you will have no funds to execute the idea. How many people have you seen buying 'ideas'. Even the most successfull businesses don't. They look for inventions. So if you can put down your idea into an invention, you can get a patent. And if idea were really patentable, nature would have not given us any brain because then we will not have to think of any ideas. Whatever you think will be patented. http://www.ipwatchdog.com/inventing/invention-submission-companies/ And even if you find someone come with the idea same as you how are you going to prove that they were 'mentally incapable of thinking it themselves'. Just because it clicked them later than you, it doesn't mean that they 'stole your idea'. There is no reason why they can't come up independently with it. Whatever you do, you will have a very hard time proving it because these are intangible things. You cannot dissect somebody's brain and find the idea factor(as of today's medical advancements!)