Ideas are protected.  University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences protects ideas: http://www.library.uams.edu/resources/Plagiarism.aspx  : "All tangible ideas, direct quotes, and paraphrases are protected under copyright law and should be properly cited."

"The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift."  Albert Einstein 

The idea, the hypothesis, is the beginning, the important creation.  The person who stole my idea wrote me in 2005 to tell me my idea "is a great idea."  He asked several times to "talk on the phone" or "meet with me."  When I told him everything between us should be in writing, I never heard from him again.  In 2010, he and others, proved my idea in an animal model and published the work.  I was not mentioned.  It involved the connection of low DHEA with obesity and breast cancer.  In anticipation of a possible theft of my idea, I placed it in the internet in 2005.  Go to this web page and search for "James Howard" and note the date.)

The legal office of the university has stated I have no claim.  The office of acedemic affairs has chosen to ignore me.  ...both in the face of supporting the same idea protection cited above.  Received from the "Associate General Counsel, June 30: "We submit that your view of plagiarism is inconsistent with that of the University and its Administration."

They know I have the email wherein the individual says my idea is "great" and that he wants to "meet" with me or "talk" on the phone.  I have sent them the email as well as his emails to me.  They know he presented a "poster" in October, 2006, saying that he, et al., examined the relationship one year after my informing him that all commincation between us be in writing, after which I never heard from him again.  (This "poster" cannot be accessed via the internet; the journal which hosted this "poster" just recently found it and sent me a copy.)  The university also knows he, et al., published a paper in 2010 proving my idea in an animal model, the obese Zucker rat.

The irony of all of this is that rather than recognizing that my, potentially very important idea, has been proven, they use their time trying to protect a person who stole an idea, directly counter to their published rule against it.  Additionally, this university will use its tax supported attorney to defend this individual while I will have to pay a private attorney when the time comes.

"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men [people] do nothing." (Edmund Burke)  Will the people in authority decide plagarism is OK when the individual is one of their own?  Do their rules not apply to one of their own?  I will pursue this.  )