13th July 2004, 9:41 AM
...
Actually, you can't copyright the ideas in a book, that IS what I'm saying. You can PATENT those instead if they are patentable. What you CAN copyright is the text itself, but not the title, and the title is what I was talking about.
If you could copyright the ideas presented in a book, no one would be able to use the idea of a teleporter because Star Trek already did that. It has to be something VERY specific, nearly to the letter, before it violates copyright.
Now I know you didn't even bother reading that FAQ. Read it next time, because it's not what I'm saying, it's what the actual copyright office is saying!
Actually, you can't copyright the ideas in a book, that IS what I'm saying. You can PATENT those instead if they are patentable. What you CAN copyright is the text itself, but not the title, and the title is what I was talking about.
If you could copyright the ideas presented in a book, no one would be able to use the idea of a teleporter because Star Trek already did that. It has to be something VERY specific, nearly to the letter, before it violates copyright.
Now I know you didn't even bother reading that FAQ. Read it next time, because it's not what I'm saying, it's what the actual copyright office is saying!
Quote:How do I protect my idea?
Copyright does not protect ideas, concepts, systems, or methods of doing something. You may express your ideas in writing or drawings and claim copyright in your description, but be aware that copyright will not protect the idea itself as revealed in your written or artistic work.
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." ~ Charles Babbage (1791-1871)