Patent

I went to a Patent Talk today. It left me doubt on how to really secure an idea. In the senerio when one has a brilliant idea so he approaches an IC designer to design it. The IC designer came out with a tip top solution. Now who has the right? If without the idea, the designer will have nothing to start with, but without the tip top solution from the designer, the idea is not going anywhere. It's a cooperation and therefore it should be a 50:50 split??... To me, I think an innovative idea is always more valuable.