Copyrighting Your Business Ideas?

"Hey I have an idea, is there any way I can Copyright it so it doesn't get stolen?"

A question that we get asked every once in a while and actually a few times recently so we decided to make this blog post as an answer to that question. 

So here it goes, touching on the legal side of business which we haven't yet in this blog so this should be good:)

Copyrights In Business

The answer here is no-- you can't copyright or even patent an idea for your business. Just think about it though, it makes sense, if someone were to copyright the idea of social media we would never have the platforms we have grown to love... just one platform. :/

In order to copyright or even patent there has to be a "physical" piece of property behind it. Whether that be copy written on your website or even a logo or article. There can't just be an idea that you have in your head.

In addition to this, many new business owners worry about their copy or content being stolen, which is a valid concern, but there is some laws around this can can help protect your content, copy, etc without actually going all the way and sending it to the US Copyright Office,

The law known as the United States Copyright law, for those of us based in or living in the United States, protects "original works of authorship" for any tangible thing such as content, newspapers, music, art, etc. This law protects these pieces no matter if they are published or unpublished meaning that you already have a certain level of protection right when you create the piece of work or content.

On the other hand, this does not protect the idea itself, just the execution or creation of the idea. Meaning that anyone can use the same or a similar idea in their business to execute it on their own way.

​So does this matter to your business?

It's All In The Execution of Your Business Idea

No, this does not really matter that you can't copyright your idea. Just have to look at it from the bigger picture!

This creates demand and forces products and services , yes that includes yours, to be better than ever. It pushes them to create the best products for the consumers and keeps you on your toes because we have to adapt, survive and flourish.

If you think about it, anyone can have the same idea as you but they won't execute the idea exactly how you would and in the end they will most likely end up with a different product or service!

If everyone executed on the social media idea the same we would not have the countless
platforms that we currently do and each an every one of the wouldn't be different in their own way!

It's all in the execution of your idea, some may be better than others but everyone executes different so stop wondering why you can't copyright an idea and start taking action on the idea and growing the business instead!

​-Taylor