Great question.

As Joe notes below, the effort to tell the world about DNotes Pay is already underway. With that said, though, there's nothing to prevent others from copying the idea. In fact, I would be surprised if that doesn't happen, since it happens pretty much everywhere you look in the marketplace. There's a reason that we have so many different types of soda, cars, toilet paper, potato chips, and so many of the other products that we find in our supermarkets and retail stores. Someone comes up with a great idea, and others follow along and imitate it. I fully expect one or more projects to move to create a similar payment system. It's almost impossible to fully protect ideas once they're out of your head and into the public square.

The thing is, though, that DNotes Pay is part of a broader ecosystem that others will struggle to replicate. Few would even want to attempt the feat. And without that ecosystem, it doesn't really matter if someone else tries to say that they were first. What matters is what they are able to accomplish with the idea. Unless they have a strategy to effectively push toward mass adoption, they're not likely to make much of an impact.

Of course, this is an issue that is likely to come into play in the months and years to come, as DNotes Global continues to innovate and release additional products and services. There will always be imitators.