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Ask Jane Applegate
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August 11, 1999: 1:39 p.m. ET
Would-be entrepreneur is stalled by fear others would steal idea for invention
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Here are CNNfn.com small-business columnist Jane Applegate's answers to your questions about running your own company.
Dear Jane,
One of the reasons I will never become an entrepreneur is that I'm afraid venture capitalists, suppliers and vendors will steal my idea. I have a product in mind for watering lawns. If I share my idea with them, won't they take it and start their own business?
If everyone thought like you, there would be no new businesses started in this country. Yet nearly one million new ventures pop up every year, so there must be ways to protect your great ideas.
If you have invented a new product, you can keep it safe by filing for patent protection from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. (They have a great Web site: www.uspto.gov .) You can protect your invention from the very beginning, even if it takes years to bring it to market.
I would recommend buying some books about how to protect your invention. Nolo Press, the self-help law publisher, (www.nolo.com) has dozens of great books for people like you. The books don't take the place of a good lawyer, but they have a tremendous amount of information to get you started. Obtaining copyrights on intellectual property and a patent on a product isn't as complicated as you think. Uncle Sam also has reduced filing fees for entrepreneurs to encourage innovation.
If you want to design something that will be manufactured by others, you can ask people to sign a non-disclosure agreement. Makers of all sorts of things sign these documents every day. This means you can tell them all about your great idea and they promise not to steal it. If they don't know what it is, they can't possibly tell you how much it will cost to manufacture it.
Don't let your fear stand in the way of success. 
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