I've started working on a plug-in idea, and it seems to be one of those rare low-effort high-return cases - trivial to implement, but significantly simplifies the usability of that program.Given the nature of this idea, I suspect it was simply overlooked by the company. However, in order to finish it, I would need access to more than what the plug-in API is currently offering, and that would require to ask the developers to include that functionality in the API (the code already exists, and they do tend to include requests in the API).The problem is that by doing that, I risk that my idea will occur to those developers, and they might do it instead of me. I know the "I've got a billion-dollar idea" memes, and how it's really about implementation, but here the implementation is trivial.My question is: Which is the best way to protect my idea from being implemented by the company without me? How can I make sure that I can either write a plug-in or sell it to them? Apparently hiring a lawyer for a patent is not worth the effort, given the costs. So what would be some approaches?BTW, the company is US-based and I'm in the EU.