Pitching ideas and not having them stolen!

Henroid

So because I've never really killed off my inner-child, my imagination is always in full swing and I'm always thinking of weird shit.

Every now and then I get this crazy idea in my head that something I've created can actually be worth trying to put to use or selling off. In this case, it would be a comic character. While I piece together whatever details I can, I'm also wondering how the hell I could possibly pitch an idea without seeing it arise in some bastardized form later down the line.

So I guess this is a copyright question kinda thread? And maybe a little naive-dream driven? But really, what would I need to protect myself in this manner? A lawyer present at any meeting I'd be lucky to get? Actual copyright filing?

TychoCelchuuu

Nobody cares if you have an idea for a comic character. If you can actually write/draw a comic they barely even care, but there are procedures for submitting your stuff to reputable publishers who won't rip you off. Just a character thought? Comic writers come up with literally dozens of characters for every story they write. Anyone in a position to actually create comics doesn't need to steal your character, and anyone who isn't in a position to create comics couldn't do anything even if they did steal your character.

Draygo

Copyright it. What country are you in? This is important to get an answer on how you should copyright something.

In the US:
http://copyright.gov/circs/circ1.pdf

The way in which copyright protection is secured is frequently misunderstood. No publication or registration or other action in the Copyright Office is required to secure copyright . . . Copyright is secured automatically when the work is created.

Basically just declare a copyright on your work, as this is not likely to actually be stolen anyway.

Six

Do something with the idea. Ship something.

Then no one can steal it.

Sentry

Ideas are a dime a dozen. No one cares about your ideas. What's rare is follow through. So, you can use your fear of having your idea stolen as an excuse not to actually do something with it, or you can actually do something with it.

Djeet

Don't let fear of having your shit stolen or copied prevent you from going forward and doing something with it. No one who's successfully done anything has let those fears stop them from doing stuff. Usually the order is to do something, and fail many times at it, until you do something that's successful; then you go back and get the patent/copyright protection, cause now you have money to hire a lawyer and sue if you need to. Only mega-corps go and patent shit before they've even made working models of them.

If you're pitching something to an investor\co-developer you typically enter NDA or mutual NDA before you talk about the details of the good stuff. If this fall under copyright, just publishing and declaring it yours should grant your copyright protection.

SatanIsMyMotor

Yeah, you can't just sell the idea for a character of a video game or a book. It needs to be put into a package that works and is compelling - even then your chances are slim.

TheKoolEagle

When I worked for activision tech support, I had a lot of people call in to pitch game ideas, and legally our answer to tell them before they pitch it is that we don't accept ideas because there is a good chance we are already working on something they want, then it becomes a legal issue when they think the idea was stolen from them. Not sure if the comic industry works the same way but yeah, pitching an idea to a company is harder then winning the lotto

Jimmy King

My wife looked into writing for WoTC several years ago. I imagine their procedures are similar to many publishers of books and comics. I don't remember 100% since it was years ago, but it was roughly something like this.
1) You submit some short stories you wrote yourself.
2) If they like them they contact you
3) You get to write more short stories for books that are collections of short stories. (I think... not certain on this step). What you write about may not be your choice, they tell you.
4) If they still like you, you might get to write a book where they tell you what you're going to write.
5) If after some of those they still like you, then maybe you get to actually create something of your own

I would guess you get to skip right to step 5 there if you create something and make it really popular first so that the publishers are chasing you for the rights, but that's obviously also not a quick, easy thing to do.

zilo

To echo what other people have said: ideas are nearly worthless. It's the execution that has value. For example, the idea of a comic book character is worth nothing. A comic with that character in it is worth something.

Nobody is going to buy the nebulous fruits of your imagination. You have to make something to sell.

Khavall

Yeah, I can't count the one-off compositions or arrangements that I have actually released to the public or have had used in various things that have had an audience. These were completed products released, for professional gigs. I didn't do any specific copyrighting with any of it other than writing that it was copyrighted by me because once you create something, you automatically hold the copyright. I don't routinely check up on this sort of thing, but I haven't even ever come close to something close enough where I would say "Yeah, that was stolen from me".



You can register with governments, but that would only come up to shorten any cases if someone did steal it and you needed absolute proof. And that's only if you're really worried. It's expensive for a lot of works though, and there's not really that much of a point.

Just like what other people have said: Creative people who are actually already working or publishing have plenty of ideas coming at them or in their own heads. They're not going to look at something you had an idea for and say "YES. We could never have thought of that, or anything equally as good, on our own. Let's refuse to give credit, but take the idea for our own". First of all, if you actually pitched it and what they made was actually what you pitched, if you had design docs that proved it, or your presentation, you'd be able to sue and that would be annoying for them.

Actually do something with it. Release it. Heck, I release most of my stuff under Creative Commons because why the hell not. If I'm doing it for a professional thing, then I'll keep the copyright or there'll be some deal where they have it just so I don't have any problems, but other than that I CC it. Either way, you have to actually make a product.