Copyright an improvement?

[Ozzy33]

What is the name of your state? New York

I posted this in the patent thread but realized that this is more of a copyright question.

Hello,
My question is this : If i have an idea that would greatly improve a current website and would raise revenue by a lot, is it possible to "patent" this idea?
my problem with the situation is that it is merely an idea; there is technical work that would need to be done to accomodate my idea yet i am not qualified to do this work. Pretty much i would be pitching an idea to this website without having any of the work done and they would have to do everything...
any suggestions?
thanks a lot!

 

[shortbus]

You can't copyright an idea. You can only copyright the expression of that idea, whether as text, image, software code, etc. In other words, until you have put your idea into a fixed form of expression, you have nothing to protect.

Think about it this way. Suppose I tell you about an idea I have for a geometric figure where all the points are the same distance from a center point. You go away and draw a circle. Can I sue you for copyright infringement? No. Even though my idea inspired your drawing, there's no protection for the idea. You're legally permitted to draw your own circle.

Likewise, if you pitch your idea to the website and they use it, there's no copyright barrier to using it. If you're really concerned about it, you can try using a nondisclosure agreement, where they agree by contract not to make use of any of the ideas you share with them.