[mchannon]

Howard Aiken said it best: "Don't worry about people stealing your ideas. If your ideas are any good, you'll have to ram them down people's throats."

There are two passive modes of control over your ideas that you can deploy that won't be taken as signs of "paranoid crackpot syndrome": patent rights and copyright.

Patent rights do cost (particularly if you're broke like many startuppers) and they set a process in motion you have to keep up with (commitments to financially support your patent in upcoming years or lose rights to it), but they make for an effective deterrent to some. They also give investors warm fuzzies, particularly if you sound like you know what you're doing when it comes to the filing process.

Copyrights are free and easy. If you have a powerpoint or whitepaper, simply stick your © dingbat, year, and name on every page. Your first level of audience will still be able to take your idea and run with it, but it becomes a violation of copyright law to distribute the copyrighted work (or iterations thereof) further without your consent.

The kids who cheated off you in high school by and large have found other, less productive things to do with their lives than try and steal your thunder.