Who really owns the idea anyway, prior to any formal protection (patent, trademark, copyright, etc.) or informal such as trade secret which is not available because the idea has been publically disclosed, think of the Facebook case, as is typical there are no witten agreements between the parties. The law does not really have a clear avenue for these issues, could ownership be parallel to real or personal property, i.e. possession=ownership absent any clear ownership otherwise? Except in the case of intangible property possesion would equal successful application of the idea?
