Who owns an idea?

Have you ever seen a key like this?

If so, you’ve probably been to a safety deposit box, which means you’ve probably been to a vault down in the depths of a bank at some point in your life.

Very old school. Especially in a time where people lock things up in clouds.

“Locking things up” has become a relative term in the digital age, when the single most important thing you own, like it or not, is you and your information.

But what about an idea? How do you protect that?

There’s patents, and trademarks, and lawyers. There’s Judge Judy.

But there’s really nothing to stop someone from stealing and using or repurposing your idea. Lastest case: Teller of Penn and Teller, who’s suing a Dutch magician for copying one of his most famous tricks. And selling a “how-to” video so amateurs can do it themselves.

Shame on him.

Or not?

This is the age of sharing. The era of total transparency.

Like it or not, what’s yours will very soon be others. Often, for free. Just ask the large recording labels. 

The best thing to do is create your idea and put it out there as much as possible. Blast it through all your social media networks, tell people about it on Facebook, put a TM on it too, but make sure you get credit in as big and wide a forum as possible.

Or maybe hire Teller to figure out a trick where he creates a safety deposit box for your ideas so nobody can steal them.