Can Ideas Be Protected or Patented?

Can Ideas Be Protected or Patented?

If what you have is not an invention, but a story idea for example, you should be thinking about protection afforded under the copyright laws. 

 Here the best thing you can do is simply start writing, drafting or otherwise creating your work. A copyright exists immediately upon the original creation and fixation thereof, which is the legal way to say it exists upon creation (i.e. writing it down). 

You do not need to do anything special to claim a copyright, and you can immediately place the c in a circle and call the work copyrighted. 

Nevertheless, in order to sue for infringement you will need to have a federally registered copyright. The filing fee is only $45, so applying for a copyright should be done as a matter of course whenever possible. In India the fee is Rs. 500.

Once again, only the story is protected not the general idea of the story.