Any advice would be appreciated…

Good ideas are one thing, developing and deploying your idea is another thing. I don't think that a web business with a soft idea should be scared to get copied. There are so many ways to develop an idea, there are so many markets (niche and nationwide markets) to target and services to offer that your competitor will end up with a different customer base.

I personally don't believe in patents for online ideas. Patents for 'real' products or production techniques work but for the web... I doubt it. It costs loads of money and you'll see the reason your customers return is not because of the main idea but because of the service you offer. The time you save not going after patents you can invest in improving your product and/or customer relations.

Hello all,
I'm currently in the same situation. For me the problem is not that you can't protect your idea. As jmb said : work hard to discourage competition.
In my case the real problem is that it's quite difficult to find someone (bank, investors) to help you setting your projects. Why everybody tell young guys as me to start his business but can't provide you with any help ?

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Having patents for a number of products over the years they act more as a deterrent than a protection. Often times entrepreneurs aspiring to venture into your space will research your patent then change it ever so subtlety and now you have a new competitor. Ultimately the decision becomes how much investment are you willing to make to protect your patent?
I believe the true secret to any business, on line or not is to know your market so well you know the questions it’s buyers will ask before they ask you, find its unresolved problems and do so in such a brilliant way that future knock offs will only pick up the consumers who shop on price alone. When you perfectly solve an unresolved market problem, and you create a breakthrough experience you become the leader in that space.
The obvious challenge is to continue to stay connected to the problems of your market and continue to solve them.
Mark Allen Roberts
http://www.tunedinblog.com/page/tuned-in.html

Lots of (young) entrepreneurs are seeing numerous opportunities in starting an online business nowadays. It has to be said, when you're into web 2.0 and you have some technical background (html development) or friends in that area, the step is easily made. The attractiveness of such adventure lies in the low start-up capital (i.e. financial risk) because almost all online tools are available for free (a trend that seems to be unstoppable, volens nolens). And off course, you're a click away from attaining the entire world at once. How great is that?

But on the other hand, those advantages become your weaknesses once your idea gets picked up by others. Everybody everywhere is able to see and follow-up your idea in a very early and unprotected phase. They too have those free tools available and there's mostly no real juridical constraint (patents, copyrights ...) holding them back. Now it could be an honor if a multinational likes your ideas, but what’s left when they simply steal it and commercialize your luminous idea? (e.g. http://www.etre.com/blog/2007/04/mozilla_firefox_bad_news_for_flock/)

Now I ask myself; all of you e-ntrepreneurs out there, how well protected is your idea? And how did you manage to do so?

I'm asking myself the same quistion "How can yo protect your online idea's?"
Its a hard thing todo but i belive if you have something wich is unique useally doesn't get the big buzz at the start but when everyone knows about it. But still its scary to start an online e-business. I'm working on a few new projects to but at the moment i only come out with it when its done, cause as you say there is no way to protect it.

I am in the process of developing a Web 2 website aimed at government. The research I have done over the last 4 years has developed into a unique, and valuable! list of common Public Sector Services, which is not availbe elsewhere. Database Copywrite now applies as i can prove i developed the classification scheme . I will also include non commercial / non competition re-use in the legal section. But until it is launched i will not really know what the reality is of upholding my Copyright rights

This is definitely an issue that I have come across in the past working with clients. I have a social networking website in development which still needs completing for a specific group of the community. Mr M said it well that this is a double edged sword - great benefits & disadvantages together. My approach is making sure that the website is well featured with relevant content before deciding to roll it out, thus eliminating competition. Good luck all, hopefully we will find a way through, Chandeep

This is definitely an issue that I have come across in the past working with clients. I have a social networking website in development which still needs completing for a specific group of the community. Mr M said it well that this is a double edged sword - great benefits & disadvantages together. My approach is making sure that the website is well featured with relevant content before deciding to roll it out, thus eliminating competition. Good luck all, hopefully we will find a way through, Chandeep

This is definitely an issue that I have come across in the past working with clients. I have a social networking website in development which still needs completing for a specific group of the community. Mr M said it well that this is a double edged sword - great benefits & disadvantages together. My approach is making sure that the website is well featured with relevant content before deciding to roll it out, thus eliminating competition. Good luck all, hopefully we will find a way through, Chandeep

Although I'm past 87 (yes 87) I have just started, with a much younger associate, a new website, stoora.com, based on an international patent that covers both a proprietary classification and the software that makes it work
Up to now, the only competition is based on a different business model which, of course is not patentable.
Conclusion: work hard to develop fast enough to discourage competition

I have been an e-business entrepreneur and advisor for the last 8 years in The Netherlands. Being an entrepreneur of a new start up, you will be confronted whith many different issues and challenges. What I often see is that many start ups forget to investigate the (international) tax opportunities. In many cases, you can really obtain huge advantages by planning your legal business structure as of day 1, especially when your business is online!

As of November 2007, I moved to Curacao and started EzoneDesk.com with a some partners. EzoenDesk is a tax and consultancy firm located in Curacao, Netherlands Antilles. We assist and advise amongst others many e-business, media, services and trading related companies on the E-zone company and other alternative tax structures on Curacao. The E-zone company is a legal entity which facilitates a corporate tax rate of 2%. I will be pleased to provide you more information on this or any other start up related questions.