Where to start?

[anonymous-user]

To cut a long story short I've had a genius idea about a car part. I don't want to tell anyone about it because I'm paranoid. I've googled it and it doesn't exist.
All I'm going to say is it's about a fuel tank.

Can I offer my idea to companies? It's not something to go on D-Den about because it's for a car company to use on all their cars not something to sell to the public. I am 100% sure at least one company would be interested. Do I just e-mail them?
As the title says I don't know where to start.

[Baffled Spoon]

I think it's best you start at the Patent Office imo.

[Garlick]

Patent it, that will tell you if it (or similar) already exists.

Also, if it's as good as you claim someone like Ford will have commissioned 100,000 by the time you get home after the initial meeting where they told you they aren't interested.

[anonymous-user]

It's not 'life changing' just very helpful.
I'll look into finding a patent officer or something when I get home tonight. I'm surprised it's not already been thought of but my googling suggests otherwise.
Fingers crossed.

[Garlick]

As said, a quick file for patent will tell you if someone has already had the same idea.

Good luck, I'll take 2.

[anonymous-user]

Garlick said:

As said, a quick file for patent will tell you if someone has already had the same idea.

Good luck, I'll take 2.

Thanks but you'll only need one

[BarnatosGhost]

PSBuckshot said:

Garlick said:

As said, a quick file for patent will tell you if someone has already had the same idea.

Good luck, I'll take 2.

Thanks but you'll only need one

You better design them to wear out then

[Proxy]

BarnatosGhost said:

You better design them to wear out then

Hah!

Good luck with it mate!

[LooneyTunes]

Definitely speak to a patent attorney, but be mindful of the fact that you may need/want to exploit your patent pretty quickly after filing.

Reason being that patent protection only applies in the jurisdiction of the patent - hence filing in UK alone won't give global protection. What it does do is give you access to a "priority" period of 12 months in which you can file in other countries with the same effective start date as your UK filing.

Patent attorney can spell it all out more fully for you, but it may be that you decide to file in the UK before, say, approaching the likes of Ford and (based on their interest level) filing in US/EU/China. Be aware though, the bills can quickly mount...

[Ray Luxury-Yacht]

It's this isn't it?

Only joking, good luck!

[anonymous-user]

Ray Luxury-Yacht said:

It's this isn't it?

Only joking, good luck!

Haha oh st, better scrap my idea now.
Thanks though. I'm confident.

[anonymous-user]

Oh yes, how much would a patent cost?
Roughly. I'm new to this stuff!

[MX5guy]

Ray Luxury-Yacht said:

It's this isn't it?

Only joking, good luck!

What rubbish! I'd never pay money for that, it's obviously fake. I'll just stick with filling the car with £10 each week, and so avoid fuel price increases that way.

[ZOLLAR]

Op, tell me what your idea is then in case something happens to you, If it does I'll make sure your invention gets put into production!.

[BigBen]

Start by watching this film

http://goo.gl/5XEPK

as a guide to how car companies treat lone inventors (a good film as well)

Getting a patent is not necessarily expensive, defending a patent is.

Ben

[anonymous-user]

You're all scaring me
I just wanna make a few pound and with my idea I think I can.

[LooneyTunes]

PSBuckshot said:

Oh yes, how much would a patent cost?
Roughly. I'm new to this stuff!

Off the top of head, last one we did was a 2000-3000 for UK only. (+VAT)

Keep fees in check by providing a comprehensive briefing document and as much as you can in the way of diagrams, explanation, claims etc. Otherwise you'll be telling them stuff, they'll be writing it down for you, and you'll still need to go through and check/comment...

[DS3R]

PSBuckshot said:

I've googled it and it doesn't exist.

Unfortunately from a patentability perspective, depending on the level of detail you've put in to google, you may have already buggered yourself.

Google likes information you put in to it. It reports it, as do hundreds of websites and software tools.

Thus, if you have disclosed your invention using google, you may not have a patentable invention. One of the requirements for patentability (in the UK and generally elsewhere) is that the invention must be "new". New means "not made available to the public" before you file an application for a patent.

Guess what you might have done..?

Go to www.cipa.org.uk and find a local patent attorney, most will give you 30- 90 minutes free of charge & will help you with specific advice that will help. They also have search tools that do not report to the rest of the World, hence are safe to use.

Rough cost of a UK patent? Maybe £1500- 2k for a relatively basic mechanical invention (if that's what it is).

If you want further protection (patents are geographic in nature, so if you don't have a French patent & a French company reproduces your invention, you have no protection), you can expect 5- 50k in the first year.

So, go see someone, get them to tell you what type of protection you can get (you may not have to rely on a patent, you may be able to register a design, or there are more).

They will also tell you how you can exploit the idea, ie how much of that cash pile you might have to find yourself, before investors get interested and can "buy in" to your idea, supporting the cost & marketing effort for you.