I have many ideas to get rich!
Dear Gwendolyn:
Two years ago I had a brainstorm and by the time I generated the needed funds, someone had the same idea and produced the product before me. I later found out that it was my roommate who let my plan out. She was working at a country club and telling some of the workers about my idea. One of the men seated at the bar called her over and apparently she told him all about it. His wife produced the product and they made millions of dollars.
The year I graduated from college, I was telling my sorority sisters the recipe to my sweet bread. Apparently one of them was memorizing it and gave it to her mother. Six months later her mother put it on the market (trademark and all). They made millions and moved to a 2.5 million dollar house in Florida on the ocean.
Gwendolyn, I am tired of trying to get rich. I am tired of others getting rich from my ideas. What can I do?
Janet
Dear Janet:
You are not a writer so you will never have a best seller. You are not a scholar so you will never win the Pulitzer Prize. I say this because I do not want you to stop planning. Continue to achieve whatever it is you have been given the brainstorm to do.
Let me tell you this: Having a roommate can be the most difficult thing. Roommates have a tendency to snoop into your most private papers. Or, roommates just talk and tell each other their plans. This is bad. I feel you need to seek the advice of an attorney. Although you cannot copyright an idea, but you can trademark an item.
The next time you have a brainstorm, tell no one regardless to how excited you may become. Even if you try to secure funding, let the synopsis give two-thirds of the plan, holding one-third in case the loan is not approved. By doing so the lenders will not have your entire blueprint.
Janet, there are people in this world who will take your ideas and get rich leaving you to sleep on the street. They have no conscience. So many ideas and inventions were stolen, especially during the time of slavery. Unfortunately, the practice continues. But think about. No one can steal your idea — if you don’t tell it.