How to Protect Your Idea

Everyone's got stories. When I was worked in programming for television networks, I never told anyone what I did. Because once people heard what I did, they would start pitching me an idea. My cobbler would pitch me a show idea about cobblers, my taxi driver would say there should be a show about taxi drivers, not realizing that there already was a very successful series called "Taxi," and my son's teachers would pitch me educational sitcoms and dramas. They were convinced that viewers would love to see their stories up on the screen, if only "those idiots" at the networks would agree. Almost everyone who was about to pitch me an idea would ask if I planned to steal it. I would always say not to tell it to me if they thought I would steal it. While there are certainly unscrupulous people in the entertainment industry, idea stealing is not that common. It's not the idea that matters, it's the execution of the idea that matters. How many movies have been made where a parent and their teen child switch identities? Some have been hits and some disappear from the theaters after a week. It all depends on the execution. Therefore, the best way to protect your idea is to turn it into a property. If you have an idea for a movie, don't keep it in your head. Write a treatment, or do a rudimentary story board, or create a detailed outline. Don't just say that you want to create a reality show about a biker bar in Dallas -- go to Dallas, find the perfect biker bar for your show, and sign an exclusive agreement with them. If no one wants to read your screenplay, use it as an outline for a novel. Then write your novel and get it published. You may find it easier to get studios to read your script if it's based on a novel. As I pointed out, everyone has ideas. If an entertainment company doesn't like your idea, they know they can get ideas from any number of other creators. If you own a property that the entertainment company wants, you're in the driver's seat. JK Rowling had an idea for a novel about a boy wizard. That idea itself can't be protected. But once she wrote her first Harry Potter novel, she turned her idea into a property that has become one of the most valuable entertainment properties in the world. It also made her a billionaire. Maybe you have an idea that can be equally as successful. Turn it into a property and find out.

Protecting Your Idea

The availability of the internet makes it more difficult than ever to protect our ideas. How do you protect your great idea from all the sharks in Hollywood that want to steal it? It's very tricky to protect an idea when what you want is to reach the largest possible audience. That's because the best way to protect your idea is never to talk about it or show it to anyone. Publish after you're dead and let your heirs get all the money. It worked for Emily Dickinson, didn't it?

However, if you read this blog you probably want to see your creation reach an audience in your lifetime. If that's the case, there are some practical steps you can take. Remember that copyright does not protect your idea, it only protects your expression of that idea.

1. First thing -- write it down, record a CD, or make a DVD. Once a piece has been created in a fixed form, it automatically has copyright protection. You can enhance that protection by registering with the U.S. copyright office. Mailing it to yourself return receipt requested to proved the day on which it was created does not prove ownership, although it could prove to be a strong piece of evidence should you end up taking a copyright violation case to court.

2. It's still possible that your written notes about the idea may not be protectable. You may have outlined an idea substantially similar to a show currently on television, or that has copyright protection. To use an example from Golf Channel: you can't protect the idea of a reality elimination show for golfers where the prize is an exemption on a professional tour. There have been several shows with this idea. However, Golf Channel can copyright 'The Big Break,' the specific program created around that basic idea. Does your idea have a unique expression?

3. One of the best ways to protect your idea is to control the property. For example, if your idea is to take a celebrity golfer and substantially improve his golf game (the idea for The Haney Project on Golf Channel) you can protect your idea if you are the agent or otherwise control access to the celebrity teacher and the celebrity. Do you own or control the rights to something other than your idea? (See my previous post 'Turn Your Idea Into a Property.'

4. Another good way to protect the idea is to produce it yourself. If you can't produce it yourself, can you get an established production company to commit to producing the project with you?

5. Create the unique expression of the idea yourself. Write a script, storyboard the movie or episode, or design the web site. The actual expression you pick depends upon your idea, of course. Writing the first script of your sitcom or screenplay for your movie provide the details of your expression that allows you to protect your idea.

For more information about copyright protection, go the U.S. Government's copyright site: www.copyright.gov E-mail me or post comments if you have more questions.