Hi, everyone. I am currently a student, and I am set to work with a professor on my independent research project shortly. The professor wants a research proposal, budget, etc. before I begin working. However, I have read many horror stories online of professors stealing the ideas inside the proposals that their students send them and doing the projects themselves. Is there any way I can prevent this from happening? Can I put some sort of copyright on my research proposal to mark the new ideas inside said proposal as my intellectual property? Someone suggested I mail a physical copy to myself. Would this work and, if so, how?


Thanks.

Well, my proposal is just that-a proposal. It's not an invention yet, so I can't patent it. I was just wondering if I could protect it so that the person to whom I'm sending it cannot turn me away and use my idea as his own and work on it. So, posting it to myself timestamped would work? How would I indicate my authorship?

While official action may be potentially negative, I'd still like some sort of protection before I send my idea out to the supervisor. I'm just hoping there's some sort of way to copyright/provisionally patent the ideas in the proposal...

bump

Hi, everyone. I am currently a student, and I am set to work with a professor on my independent research project shortly. The professor wants a research proposal, budget, etc. before I begin working. However, I have read many horror stories online of professors stealing the ideas inside the proposals that their students send them and doing the projects themselves. Is there any way I can prevent this from happening? Can I put some sort of copyright on my research proposal to mark the new ideas inside said proposal as my intellectual property?


Thanks.