Generally no: an idea as such is not protected. Copyright protects the way an idea is expressed, such as your text, drawings or code, but not the idea behind it. A patent can protect a technical invention, but only if it is new when you apply, and in Sweden and the rest of Europe an invention you have published yourself before applying is, apart from narrow exceptions, no longer new. Secret business information can be protected as a trade secret, as long as it stays secret. If you may want a patent, talk to a patent attorney or the patent office before you publish anything.
This page is general information, not legal advice, and the rules differ between countries. We describe the position in Sweden and under the European rules, with links to the authorities. For your own case, ask a lawyer or a patent attorney.
Copyright: the expression, not the idea
The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) puts it in one sentence: "Copyright protects the concrete expression of an idea, but not the idea itself." If you write a description of your idea, nobody may copy that text; anyone is free to build the same thing in their own words. Swedish copyright law follows the same principle: the form of a work is protected, not the idea behind it. In Sweden and the rest of the EU the protection arises automatically when you create the work, with no registration, provided the work is original enough; some other countries require registration before you can enforce it.
Patents: a technical invention that is new
A patent gives you the exclusive right to exploit an invention commercially, for a limited time and only in the countries where it is granted. It is granted for a technical solution that is new, inventive and industrially applicable, not for an idea or a business plan. The Swedish Patent and Registration Office (PRV) writes in its guidelines that a patent claim should always state technical features and not only an idea.
Novelty is why early publishing is risky. Under Article 54 of the European Patent Convention (opens in a new tab), the state of the art is "everything made available to the public by means of a written or oral description, by use, or in any other way" before the date of filing. The convention has no general grace period for inventors who disclose their own invention: Article 55 (opens in a new tab) only disregards a disclosure in the six months before filing if it came from an evident abuse against the applicant, or from showing the invention at certain officially recognised international exhibitions. PRV says the same in plain words for Swedish applications: what you say, show or write about the invention before you file can lead to your application being refused, even if you made it public yourself. A post, a pitch deck, a public demo or a talk can all count.
Other countries treat this differently, and some allow a limited period after your own disclosure. Do not rely on that if you want protection in Europe.
Trade secrets: protected while they stay secret
The EU Trade Secrets Directive (2016/943) protects information that is secret, has commercial value because it is secret, and has been subject to "reasonable steps" to keep it secret. Sweden has implemented it in the Trade Secrets Act (2018:558), whose definition is worded differently: it covers information about the business of a trader or the activities of a research institution, which the holder has taken reasonable steps to keep secret and whose disclosure would be likely to harm the holder competitively. Whether an early idea meets that test depends on the facts. WIPO gives examples of reasonable steps: marking documents confidential, restricting access, and confidentiality agreements with business partners. The protection lasts only as long as the information stays secret, and the directive says that discovering or creating the same thing independently is lawful.
Confidentiality agreements
You can ask the people you tell to promise confidentiality. PRV recommends confidentiality agreements when you work with other inventors, companies or organisations before filing. An agreement binds only those who sign it, so choose carefully who gets the details.
What to do before you publish
Ask whether the idea is a technical solution that could be an invention. If it is, keep the technical details out of every public place and talk to a patent attorney or the patent office (PRV in Sweden) first.
If it is a business, service or concept idea, patents are unlikely to apply. What protects you is speed, the quality of your work and the people you build it with.
Keep dated records of what you wrote and whom you told.
Share the open outline widely and the valuable details only with people who have agreed to keep them to themselves.
Check names and logos in the trade mark registers before you build a brand on them.
On Bay of Ideas
An idea has a public side and a private side. The public side is readable by anyone, which makes it a public disclosure; the private side is only for the members you accept. If your idea may be patentable, keep the technical details out of the public side. Everything you upload stays yours, and Bay of Ideas does not claim ownership of ideas posted here. See the FAQ for who can see what.