Can you "patent" a business concept

[biz123]

If you think up of a business idea so original, so good...is there any way to protect yourself from others trying to copy you? I'm talking about an original concept/idea, not a tangible product.

[ogloom]

I'm not sure...but I haven't seen one good popular business concept that hasn't been copied by others.

digg.com --> reddit.com
youtube.com --> livevideo.com
stage6.com -> vimeo.com
imageshack.us -> tinypic.com
craigslist.com -> gumtree.com
milliondollarhomepage.com -> lots of similar sites

[matt_15]

If you have a good business concept that is making you money, people will copy you. You just have to make sure you are doing everything you can to put yourself above your competition.

[ejansse2]

Absolutely not. In my belief, its not even about the idea, its about your abililty as an entrepreneur to turn the idea into meaningful 'code'. It's about how quickly the idea can develop and how you can take advantage of market trends faster than anyone else. Execute rapidly and learn from your mistakes, you will see other similar ideas but it is all about execution. Go do it!

[iMediaPro]

It's called "Intellectual Property". You can copywrite it, trademark it, but as far as I know you can't patent it. Consequently, it's up for grabs. Speed to market is the name of the game!

[s2008aw]

iMedia your wrong, you can patent intellectual property. Heard of microsoft they have dozens of patents on their software code. I know people who have tried to patent an idea, I have yet to see it work out. It may be worth a shot, by the way if your idea has designs, you may want to register the design, after that patent it. Many car manufacturers have done this to protect rivals using the same car design.

[bizdev]

From the United States Patent and Trademark Office

What Can Be Patented
"In the language of the statute, any person who “invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent,” subject to the conditions and requirements of the law. The word “process” is defined by law as a process, act or method, and primarily includes industrial or technical processes."

This information is all easily obtained from the USPTO's website.

[Nigami Enterprise]

You can do it but why would you want to do it????

[gregdavidson]

If you could patent a business concept than I think Yahoo or Alta Vista (whichever came out first) would have patented the concept of an online search engine a long time ago.

[Innovativeone]

Hello, I am an intellectual property specialist and there seems to be some confusion about how to answer this question. I am on the business side (valuation, licensing, transactions, JV's, international expansion, etc.) I am not an attorney so this should not be construed as legal advice. But here are some pointers:

1. Patents are intellectual property. Intellectual property consists of 4 things: Patents, Copyrights, Trademarks and Trade Secrets

2. You cannot protect a concept through patents, copyrights or trademarks. Patents must be reduced to practice, meaning you have to convert the idea into something tangible like code, a widget, etc. You CAN protect concepts through trade secret protection and you generally do that through the use of a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA). The difference between all other forms of IP and trade secrets is that patents or copyrights or trademarks cannot be copied because that is considered infringement. Trade secrets can be thought of by someone else and you cannot stop them from using their idea. Trade secrets can be protected from theft if you have an NDA in place but NDAs are only as good as the people who sign them, and they can be difficult, though not impossible to enforce.

What is the best course of action? Take it from concept to physical existence in some form. If you need help from others to do that get an NDA in place first and try to confirm you are dealing with reputable people.

Be VERY careful about assuming your idea is so novel no one else has ever thought of it. My experience - and I've been involved in intellectual property for over 17 years - is that most of the time there is someone somewhere thinking the same thing and often there are many. Get it reduced to physical form, file the patent, copyright or trademark applications and push like your life depends on it to execute the business. At the end of the day, execution is very important to creating value in the IP.

Good Luck!
Innovativeone
Business Website: iplaunch
Blog: innovativeeconomy