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> If you want idea protection you need to look at patents.

No. You can't.

https://www.legalzoom.com/articles/can-you-patent-an-idea

'A machine sucking dust from a surface in order to clean it' is an idea.

Dyson design is an invention.

https://www.dyson.com/vacuum-cleaners/cordless/v15/detect/ye...

Here a broad description of differences between copyright and patent (trademark included):

https://copyrightalliance.org/faqs/difference-copyright-pate...

None of them covers the principle of idea.

And if you want an example of a dubious (in my opinion) attempt to patent an idea (patent troll):

https://patents.google.com/patent/EP3811791A1/en

While is it a patent trolling attempt (in my opinion) ?

Because it's basically an idea (adding a natural compound in ecigarette eliquids as sweetener) with an extensive list of layers covering general principles of everything related to ecigarette and ecigarette eliquid to pretend it's a specific formula (which is not) or an invention (which is neither because it's a natural compound known for its sweetener properties since 19th century).




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