PATENT/COPYRIGHT ADVICE

[rj_booji]

if i am developing a new application with a specific idea, what is your advice on patents or copyrights. is there any need to patent the idea i am doing to nobody else steals it? or as part of the apple licencing, does that all come included?

thanks for your help

[jsd]

if you do indeed have a patentable idea in your code, you better file for patent protection and put patent pending on your app. apple won't do it for you.

consult a patent attorney - doing it right is expensive and requires specific expertise.

[Dutch]

Originally Posted by jsd

if you do indeed have a patentable idea in your code, you better file for patent protection and put patent pending on your app. apple won't do it for you.

consult a patent attorney - doing it right is expensive and requires specific expertise.

LegalZoom has decent deals on this sort of thing.

[hosam]

Originally Posted by rj_booji

if i am developing a new application with a specific idea, what is your advice on patents or copyrights. is there any need to patent the idea i am doing to nobody else steals it? or as part of the apple licencing, does that all come included?

thanks for your help

As far as I know you CAN NOT patent a software idea. You can although patent an algorithm or a design pattern you will be using for example.

[kelvinkao]

You cannot not copyright an idea, but you can copyright the implementation of an idea.

I mean, if you can just copyright an idea, then the best way to get rich is to just become a science fiction writer, copyright all the ideas you come up with, and wait for people to invent it. You cannot copyright the idea of "a guy meets a girl and they fall in love", but you can write a love song and copyright it. You cannot copyright the idea of "an app that makes fart noises", but you can (but please don't) make an app like that and then copyright it.