How do I protect my idea?

Copyright
A copyright protects authors’ original works, including dramatic, musical, artistic, literary, or other intellectual works. When a work is copyrighted, it prevents others from copying, displaying, distributing, creating derivative works, performing, or in any way profiting from a work without the author’s consent.

To qualify for a copyright, the work must be original, it must be more than just an idea, and it should be presented in a tangible format.

Patents
A patent will help you protect your invention, process (typically industrial or technical processes), machine, manufacture (articles that are made), chemical compositions, and new and useful improvements of them.

For patent protection, the work must satisfy the following criteria:

• It should be a novelty—new, not previously patented or described.
• It should not obvious to a person with ordinary skills in the technology area of the invention.
• It should be practical—have a useful purpose—and it must perform its intended purpose.

Trademarks
A trademark will help you differentiate your product from others available on the market. A Servicemark will do the same for your service. Trademarks or Servicemarks are words,

phrases, symbols, designs, or a combination thereof that identifies the source of your products and services to others.