Ideas in themselves cannot be copyrighted in the United States, according to the Copyright Act. See 17 U.S.C. 102: http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap1.html#102
More information is available at the website of the Copyright Office: www.copyright.gov .
Ideas and methods--including business methods--can be protected under a utility patent if all of the legal requirements have been satisfied. For more information on patents, see the website of the United States Patent and Trademark Office: www.uspto.gov .
Writings that describe or discuss a business idea may receive copyright protection, but such a copyright would not prevent others from putting the ideas into practice. (Again, see the government websites cited above.)