A friend and I are having a little dispute on the creative ideas are protected. If some one was to mod a game, and some one else was to produce a game with the same concept (non of the same textures/code/etc) would the creators of the mod have any rights in which they can sue whom ever copied their concept?

There are several threads on the protection/not of ideas. Check out http://www.gamedev.net/community/forums/topic.asp?topic_id=186912

Dan Marchant
Obscure Productions
Game Development & Design consultant