Can a concept be protected like a patent?

[pauljkwa]

Good Morning Everyone!

No point trying to sleep anymore. Ideas running rampant through my brain. Similar to the way comanies such as Endemol have licenced concepts such as "Big Brother" and "Idol", how do you go about protecting a concept for a website?
Or am I dreaming? Is the presence of so many "Facebook" clones out there proof that it's not possible or that the principle of "get it out there, corner the market and crush any competition" is the prevailing attitude?
I'm sure if someone made a reality show called "Big Sister", along the same lines, that Endemol would take them to the cleaners!
Why would the two media be approached so differently? This can't be something that has simply been overlooked.
Anyway, I have at least three mega concepts that all have unlimited monetization potential on many different levels. Like an inventor of a "physical" product, I wish to sell the "licences" to a development company/ies for $x + y% royalties. Why not implement myself? My thing is creativity, the whole construction/business side boggles my brain so much I would never sleep again!
It seems the way of the www is that you get an idea and if your not a developer and have no tech ability you offer equity to a developer in return for their services. I want to approach from the other end. I have no desire to wield control over the thing, I just want to see it fly!
Therefore, I sell 95% to the highest bidder (the higher the price, the more quickly they will need to see a return on investment) and keep a small % for perpetuity.
Does anyone think there is a way to protect so I can safely publish the ideas so prospects can view the concepts on mass? Like seeing a picture of the car, boat etc. before you place a bid? Or will I have to go through the rigour of luring prospectives blindly then going through the whole non disclosure agreement thing before the concept can even be presented?
From an investors POV this must be a P in the A because there must be millions of incredible claims out there to get lost amongst.
Here's one for the Public Domain for free. Why doesn't someone create a site where creative types can list their ideas in separate "locked boxes" like safety deposit boxes in a vault. Prospectives can become a member of the site and sign a binding contract of non disclosure for access to all the ideas at once. A pool of collected funds can be put in trust to defend any legal claims that may arise from misuse of the service. These funds may come from membership/listing fees as well as maybe a percentage of any sale that results. If any of you run with this and make a fortune, remember me fondly, cash works for me!
Please have a good think and post a quick reply. Delayed brainstorming through forums rather than face to face is painfully slow for me.
Have fun,
Paul.

[sawya]

I don't think it's possible on the internet. I mean Facebook has plently of clones, but really the Facebook conept was just a clone of the MySpace concept which was a clone of something else, faceparty or facepic, whatever the hell came first.

[twocents]

I am not completely sure that everything is clear on this topic, legally.

I mean, there seems to be a general concensus that you can protect and put some claim on your ideas. But at the same time others can create similar, if not identical ideas, that they elaborate on themselves. Take the whole myspace-facebook idea.

They both exist, but I know there is or was a lawsuit filed over intelligence copyrights. I think the internet has created more fuzzy and grey areas than we can deal with.

[Shane]

This is very interesting.. I do not think that there is anything like this legally, but I think there needs to be.