On Jan 25, 2010, at 12:28 AM, anderson oliveira wrote: > My question is. Can you patent software ideas? What is the safe way to do > this? Trademark? Copyright?
First: I Am Not A Lawyer. Yes, you can patent a software idea, but it is expensive. You will need to hire a lawyer to prepare and file all the paperwork. It's not worth the money/time if you are indie. Trademarks are for company and product names. I think you get some protection for consistently using a name even if you don't register it. So you should probably register names eventually, but you don't need to do it right away. Copyrights are for expressions of ideas: your software binary, your website, etc. You have copyright when you create something. You don't need to register or anything. > Can I do the app and apply like Doing As Business kind of thing? Or > LLC will be better? You can operate a business as a sole proprietor (no paperwork necessary) or an LLC (create a company entity). Taxes are basically the same for either setup; the reason to create an LLC is for liability: if the business is sued for all its money, your private assets are safe. (This could happen if somebody with a patent thinks you have infringed, even if you weren't aware of them.) DBA (Doing Business As) is for registering a company name with local government, so your company can use that name and citizens can trace it back to you if there's a problem. You need a DBA if you are using anything other than your legal name or your company's legal name. I hope this is helpful. I also hope it is correct. -- Ben
