if you''ve taken the idea and implemented it into a design document.. its a written document. that is now copyrighted material. you''ve created that document. an idea is something floating around in your head. a design document is a copyrightable medium.

"The human mind is limited only by the bounds which we impose upon ourselves." -iNfuSeD

Would a timestamp of an e-mail to ones self vailidate anything?

That''s a good question.
If I write my document, then email it to myself.
And not open it then that should be the same as the snail mail
method.
Right?

quote: Original post by Neverwinter
Would a timestamp of an e-mail to ones self vailidate anything?

It''s easy to edit out the headers of an email, including a timestamp, and that only works if the servers have the correct time and date in the first place (I run my own email server and have a bit of experience maintaining it). It''s the same deal with snail mail, because it would be too easy to unseal and reseal an envelope and claim that it was never opened; that''s why the "poor man''s copyright" is not valid for proof of copyright or the date something was put into a copyrightable form.

The relative ease of faking a postmark prevents that method from being watertight.

Legally, by creating anything, you are entitled to copyright to it, without going through any fancy scheme.