How do I protect the intellectual property rights of source code?

Look at the best selling apps (particularly games) today, all of them are clones of something that already existed before. I'm not a fan of software patents, and I think the whole copyright system today is flawed, and that application can't be "stolen", so I'm glad you asked me to answer, but I see no solution. Particularly "content, or idea, or logic" and "be stolen or copied" is so broad that you can't be serious about covering all these aspects at once without looking at legal options. You can encrypt content, obfuscate source code, but you can't stop anybody from "stealing" an idea. And I also think that your idea itself is stolen (unless you are a troll).

I am glad you asked me to answer this question!  Almost like I asked you too! :-) I have developed a software platform that encrypts and copy-protects content while still making it easy to download or share.  You pay for the license only when you want to use it (and you can buy a permanent license as well).  It is primarily designed for content, but can be extended to protect applications as well.  You can find out more at http://www.layer3media.com Of course, many other encryptors are available on the marketplace, but none offer the flexibility and virality of my platform. I am duplicating my reply to a comment (from below) which I think is relevant to my answer. Best  strategy is to obfuscate and/or encrypt the code.  Also, the company  needs to keep focusing on improving and innovating the code, so that  stealing the IP becomes impossible.  Further, my opinion is that getting  customers and revenue will ad more value than any amount of IP  protection.