Taking out a patent
Discussion
Dear combined wisdom of PH,
The wife had a cracking idea for a product the other night which I'm not about to reveal here for obvious reasons.
First thing I need to do is find out if such a product currently exists or not.
Second thing, if it doesn't exist, is to protect the idea whilst we investigate how much it would cost to develop, what the market would be and so on. With that in mind I was wondering if anyone had experience of going through the process of searching for patents for a similar idea and registering a patent for a new idea.
Is it a lengthy process, is it expensive and is it, ultimately, effective?
The wife had a cracking idea for a product the other night which I'm not about to reveal here for obvious reasons.
First thing I need to do is find out if such a product currently exists or not.
Second thing, if it doesn't exist, is to protect the idea whilst we investigate how much it would cost to develop, what the market would be and so on. With that in mind I was wondering if anyone had experience of going through the process of searching for patents for a similar idea and registering a patent for a new idea.
Is it a lengthy process, is it expensive and is it, ultimately, effective?
Jasandjules said:
The entire process is expensive. And it is not huuuugely effective IMHO. Unless you get a worldwide patent, which isn't cheap.
Remember, the idea isn't 'patentable', only the execution of that idea. If it's worthwhile, the big guns will usually find a way to do what you do, only slightly differently to get round the patent.
Can you sell/licence the idea to a big manufacturer?
This whole 'patent' issue is whats stopping our society developing. It costs too much to do a search, to much to register and protect the idea. It puts off people that cant afford the process from ever bringing something to market, something that might enrich all our lives.
I've recently had a teriffic idea, pretty sure no ones developed this particular thing before, I know it would sell in the millions, yet I've no way of developing it or brining it to market due to the costs involved.
It makes you wonder how many other normal people have great ideas but cant do anything about it because if the initial costs, which are a huge gamble. You've got to really be an entreprenaur to bring something new to the world these days. Willing to risk tens of thousands for a dream. Personally I cant do that.
I've recently had a teriffic idea, pretty sure no ones developed this particular thing before, I know it would sell in the millions, yet I've no way of developing it or brining it to market due to the costs involved.
It makes you wonder how many other normal people have great ideas but cant do anything about it because if the initial costs, which are a huge gamble. You've got to really be an entreprenaur to bring something new to the world these days. Willing to risk tens of thousands for a dream. Personally I cant do that.
In this digital age it should only cost a nominal sum. However I heard it could be +£100k for a worldwide patent. Even then all it takes is another company to rip you off. They are legally free to copy a design and add a very minor tweek to it. Or you'll just get a Far Eastern company rip you off and sell it for half as much. It's a miracle anyone gets these things off the ground.
merc_man said:
Thanks for all the links. I know where to look for official information, what I was after was any experience of the process and its effectiveness.
My experience is that you need to have 100k or so and a fair few months to do anything worthwhile (I've a couple of great ideas - if I do say so meself)...As noted above, the best bet is to approach a company and try and get them to licence it.
As others have said the approach would be to approach companies who may be interested and try and get them to license the idea. However before revealing your idea to them make sure you have a Non Disclosure Agreement in place (sometimes called an NDA or CDA) this gives you protection from them saying "nice idea think we will make one of them goodbye."
Company responses will also give you an idea if your product is worth patenting or has been done before etc
Ben
Company responses will also give you an idea if your product is worth patenting or has been done before etc
Ben
The best thing you could do is go and speak to a patent attorney. Many people "know" from the pub that patents are too expensive, or limited in scope so easy to get around, are ignored etc, but it is worth finding out for yourself and seeing what a patent could do for you.
Your choices if you have a fantastic product idea are:
1. Market the product with no protection - risk being copied, but have nothing that you can do about it. You will at least be first to market and will hopefully attract some brand loyalty...
2. Start the patent process - apply for a patent, then start to market the product. Starting the preocess is not hugely expensive in the grand scheme of bringing a product to market as you only have to file in one country. If within the first year the idea looks like it is doing well, you should be able to see some money coming in and then make the call about filing in other coutries (you can claim the filing date of the original if you file within the first year). If the idea does not do so well then it can be killed off and you walk away. The patent will hopefully act to deter people from copying, but if they do at least you have something that you might be able to enforce, license, sell etc....you could just look at apatent as risk mitigation - without one there is nothing you can do, with one you might be able to do something.
3. Do nothing - this is the easy option, but you'll never know if the idea was any good.
Remember that you MUST keep the idea confidential until after a patent is filed - so is you make the decision not to file and to sell a few to test the market, you can't really go back....
E-mail me if you want any more info.
Alex
Your choices if you have a fantastic product idea are:
1. Market the product with no protection - risk being copied, but have nothing that you can do about it. You will at least be first to market and will hopefully attract some brand loyalty...
2. Start the patent process - apply for a patent, then start to market the product. Starting the preocess is not hugely expensive in the grand scheme of bringing a product to market as you only have to file in one country. If within the first year the idea looks like it is doing well, you should be able to see some money coming in and then make the call about filing in other coutries (you can claim the filing date of the original if you file within the first year). If the idea does not do so well then it can be killed off and you walk away. The patent will hopefully act to deter people from copying, but if they do at least you have something that you might be able to enforce, license, sell etc....you could just look at apatent as risk mitigation - without one there is nothing you can do, with one you might be able to do something.
3. Do nothing - this is the easy option, but you'll never know if the idea was any good.
Remember that you MUST keep the idea confidential until after a patent is filed - so is you make the decision not to file and to sell a few to test the market, you can't really go back....
E-mail me if you want any more info.
Alex
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