How do you protect an idea?

Some people recently sued the Facebook guys for stealing their idea based on a conversation in a bedroom, which got me thinking. Should I try and protect this one? And if so, how?

The problem is complicated. The whole premise of this project is openness. I'm not looking to make money out of this, and I don't really think I'll get it done alone, so being open with ideas is for me an easy step. If other people get involved and share their knowledge like I'm hoping you all will, this could take off pretty quickly, which leaves me in a slight quandary.

What if we did all the thinking work and some third party lifted the concept and went off, built it and pocketed the returns? Firstly they'd probably get it wrong, secondly all those people who put time and thought into it would never get recognition for their efforts, and most importantly the revenue streams may never feed back into supporting vulnerable young people's dreams and ambitions. So I figured I ought to at least have a go at affording our intellectual property a little protection.

I'll discuss how I've done this in the next post, but maybe you know someone that could advise on how we can do this better? Drop me a note if you do...