What is the correct process to protect (patent, copyright, trademark, other) software?

Question

I have written a computer program and would like to make it available for others to use. However, I also want to protect it so no one else steals my idea.

Answer 1

The best ways to protect you software is to pursue both a copyright and a patent. The cost of registering the copyright is very low (as low as $45) and it gives you some protection that could be used to prevent actual copying of your software. It does not prevent someone from copying the function of your software if they do it as an original creation without reference to the code of your software.

Therefore, IF you have any aspect of your software that may introduce new technology or methods, you may also want to pursue a patent to prevent someone from copying your functionality. It is fairly costly from $1125 for 'do it yourself' to over $10,000 if you hire a top patent attorney, but it is the only way to truly protect your software's function if it is a new idea.


Some more info from the USPTO website:

A copyright is extended to any source creator when they create the material. The only cost involved is if you wish to register the copyright. The U.S. Copyright Office increased basic registration fees to $45 per application effective July 1, 2006. There are other fees for other than the basic registration that can be found by following the second link below.

From the USPTO:
A Copyright is a form of protection provided to the authors of “original works of authorship” including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other intellectual works, both published and unpublished. The 1976 Copyright Act generally gives the owner of copyright the exclusive right to reproduce the copyrighted work, to prepare derivative works, to distribute copies or phonorecords of the copyrighted work, to perform the copyrighted work publicly, or to display the copyrighted work publicly.

The copyright protects the form of expression rather than the subject matter of the writing. For example, a description of a machine could be copyrighted, but this would only prevent others from copying the description; it would not prevent others from writing a description of their own or from making and using the machine. Copyrights are registered by the Library of Congress' Copyright Office.

There are times when you may desire a combination of copyright, patent and trademark protection for your work. You should consult an attorney to determine what forms of intellectual property protection are best suited to your needs.

Also from the USPTO:

A patent for an invention is the grant of a property right to the inventor, issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Generally, the term of a new patent is 20 years from the date on which the application for the patent was filed in the United States or, in special cases, from the date an earlier related application was filed, subject to the payment of maintenance fees. U.S. patent grants are effective only within the United States, U.S. territories, and U.S. possessions. Under certain circumstances, patent term extensions or adjustments may be available.

The right conferred by the patent grant is, in the language of the statute and of the grant itself, “the right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, or selling” the invention in the United States or “importing” the invention into the United States. What is granted is not the right to make, use, offer for sale, sell or import, but the right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, selling or importing the invention. Once a patent is issued, the patentee must enforce the patent without aid of the USPTO.

There are three types of patents:

1) Utility patents may be granted to anyone who invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, article of manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof;

2) Design patents may be granted to anyone who invents a new, original, and ornamental design for an article of manufacture; and

3) Plant patents may be granted to anyone who invents or discovers and asexually reproduces any distinct and new variety of plant.

Answer 2

As someone who has spent years in the patent business, I regard copyright with near contempt. I have some idea of what it takes to get an invention protected by patent and on the market. A lot of time, money and effort. In some cases the invention may have a background of ten years research before the first patent application is prepared. There is a lot of sweat there as well. It will generally take three to five years to get a patent application through and probably two out of three applications never make it. The result is a patent that lasts 20 years, 25 at the most and it is only live if you keep paying a fee to the patent office. This fee is small at first but gets higher as the patent gets older. That fee is paid in all countries, so paying the European Patent Office does not keep your patent live in the USA or anywhere else. During the life of the patent anyone may take part of the invention, modify it slightly and that's another invention. You may get a licence fee from them, either by agreement or enforced by the courts, but if then part they use is considered to be small, they may not have to pay a fee at all. Contrast this with the pop music industry. A few people spend maybe three days, maybe a few of weeks kludging a song together. It does not have to make sense, all it has to do is sound good enough. Maybe two days in the recording studio going over and over it and then the engineers get to work After maybe 300 person - hours of work you have a saleable product. The copyright on this is automatic, free and it lasts in some cases for 70 years after the artists die. You do not have to consult an intellectual or industrial property lawyer, you don't even have to register it with a government agency for a $5 fee. You put the thing on the market and if it is going to make money it will do so within five yeas, usually less than two. From then on unless it is a huge international hit the royalties are chicken feed. If your copyright ran out after ten years you'd never notice the difference. Take the 1959 movie "North by Northwest" which would have been one of the higher quality offerings from Hollywood that year. A lot of effort went into making it and that shows. But how long did it take the studio to get their money back and turn a tidy profit after release? More than likely just a few months. By 1969 the royalties would have just about dried up. Made in 1959, it is still covered by copyright, but the patent on the fibre Spandex invented the same year would have run out by about 1980. Does this seem fair or reasonable? Not to me.

Answer 3

You can do this at the US Copyright Office – see the last 3 links in the source box. The application is fairly simple & the cost is $45 per application.

Despite what others state, a "poor man's" copyright is NOT the same as registering it. Here's what the US Copyright Office has to say:

"The practice of sending a copy of your own work to yourself is sometimes called a 'poor man’s copyright.' There is no provision in the copyright law regarding any such type of protection, and it is not a substitute for registration."

Hope that helps! I wish you much success & happiness in all your ventures!