Intellectual Property Protection (was: Testing)

> I believe this entire thread clearly qualifies as "off topic".

I've always been accused of being a little off.

Anyway, maybe this question qualifies: if I have an idea for a web
site / service that could potentially really take off into something
big.... how do you prevent the big boys (like MicroSoft, etc.) from
cloning it before it does so? An analogy might be something like if I
were to have invented the search engine. In the end, do I *have* to
end up competing with clones... or is there a way to patent or or
otherwise protect an idea? The reason I wonder was the memory of some
debate over the concept of "one click shopping" a while back - though
I don't know the end result of that.

Any thoughts, ideas, experiences?

~ The U.P. Web Maestro (Nathan Lyle)

  E-Mail: nathan(at)upwebmaestro.com
  Online: www.upwebmaestro.com
   Phone: (906)485-4806

"2 + 2 = 5, for extremely large values of 2."

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