text: copyright / patent ideas? how does one copyright or patent an idea to protect yourself from someone stealing it? *noddling for i've had to look into this more than once* kk as far as current standards for things like music, images, ect, basically if you can prove you have the files, recordings, ect to create it, it is yours.  now for the laws on registration, http://www.copyright.gov/ many artists, writers, and musicians mistakenly believe that the creator of a work automatically owns the copyright. that's not always the case. exceptions to the rule occur when a work is created by an employee in the course of his or her employment, or if the work is created by an independent contractor and qualifies as a work "made for hire," or if the creator has sold or transferred all rights attached to the copyright.  yahoo has an area that talks about the topic here http://sbs.smallbusiness.yahoo.com/resources/subcat.php?mcid=4&scid=26  now pretty much everwhere you go, even straight to the patent office they want a fee, the trick is to find the lowest available fee if you go that route.  note though, the courts have changed since "poor man's copyright" was created, the practice of mailing yourself a sealed registered letter containing the originals is not accepted in the usa...