copyright
How to protect my idea by copyright?
<p>I have some idea of story, which I want to publish online (idea, not story, because it doesn't exist yet). I want people to discuss it and get some feedback from them.</p>

<p>I asked <a href="https://worldbuilding.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/4812/is-my-story-protected-by-copyright">question</a> on worldbuilding.meta, but here I want to ask if I publish it on some website (for example discussion forum).</p>

<p>How can I protect my idea from stealing?</p>

<p>You cannot. Ideas are not subject to copyright protection: see <a href="https://law.stackexchange.com/q/13943/4501">here</a>. Your <em>expression</em> is subject to copyright protection, but if you intend to publish the expression (after you write it), you have to find a way to do so without surrendering your exclusive right, as you did for example with your question (read the <a href="https://stackexchange.com/legal">TOS</a> for Stackexchange). </p>

<p>You cannot protect ideas. Ideas are worth nothing. </p>

<p>If you have ideas for a book, you can write the book and you get copyright protection for the book. Not for the idea, but for the book. If you have ideas for an invention, you can create the invention and apply for a patent. A patent not for the idea, but for the invention. </p>

<p>You <em>can</em> protect the idea by keeping it secret. If you have a business, and that business has an advantage because it knows the idea and others don't, then the business has legal protection because now the idea is a trade secret. It still doesn't cover the case that someone else might have the same idea. </p>
