Wanted. Patent Advice or consultant.
Discussion
I have a product design which I believe is worth patenting, if indeed it is patentable.
I have buitl a prototype that works very well. and need ot ge this drawn up properly. I then want to look at gettign at a least a European patent if not worldwide.
I haven no idea how to go about this, or the time to do the research.
Anyone out there able to help. I am happy to pay or trade a nice holiday fr the right sort of help.
PM me here interested.
Many thanks
I have buitl a prototype that works very well. and need ot ge this drawn up properly. I then want to look at gettign at a least a European patent if not worldwide.
I haven no idea how to go about this, or the time to do the research.
Anyone out there able to help. I am happy to pay or trade a nice holiday fr the right sort of help.
PM me here interested.
Many thanks
It is a huge topic and I'm not a patent expert. However I do have about 20 patents in my name and have spent much of my career reading, writing and searching for stuff on various patent search databases. Exciting! (the fun stuff is the inventing)
Rather than bore you with a load of potentially useless detail here the first thing you need to figure out is if your idea is actually novel and inventive (the two basic criteria for being able to get a patent - slight differences between the EU and the US but broadly the same deal).
Just by way of preparation - most good ideas have already been had and patented by some other clever sod; it is a very frustrating game. Also, if your idea has not been patented but has been disclosed publicly by you or someone else with the same idea then you will struggle to get a patent for it - because then it is not novel.
Anyway - first thing to do is search existing patents and patent applications to see if the idea has already been disclosed and patented.
Follow this link and start searching. This is the EU database. There is also a US database (2nd link). Start with the EU one - it is a bit easier I think.
https://worldwide.espacenet.com/advancedSearch?loc...
http://patft.uspto.gov/
In the US one you need to search for Patents and then Applications. Applications are patents that have been filed but not yet granted. They still count since if they do get granted they have the patent, and if they don't get granted, well the idea has already been disclosed so is no longer novel.
So EU database first I'd suggest.
The trick is to add in search terms that are likely to have been used in a patent that seeks to protect your idea. Search for terms likely to have been included in the Abstract rather than the Title. The Abstract is effectively a short summary of the invention that goes at the top of every patent. It has more words and is much more likely to include the terms you will be looking for. Also, people often use deliberately vague patent Titles to make searching more difficult. I have about 8 patents with the Title "Device"!
So if you have an idea for a new umbrella then type Umbrella in the Abstract section and click Search. For what it is worth I just did that and got over 10,000 patents! The more specific you make the search the fewer hits you will get BUT the more likely you are to miss existing patents. It can take a while!
What ever your idea is you will almost definitely find some patents that cover similar ground. The next thing you need to do is read the Claims of the patent. These are the things that patents live and die by. If the claims do not accurately describe your idea then you may be OK.
Have a look. See what you come up with. If it looks positive after some careful searching maybe chat to a patent lawyer and see where that takes you. It ain't cheap sadly but if you have a cracking idea then there is a lot of cash to made from licensing it out or making it yourself.
Good luck. Post back with other question if you have them.
TD
Rather than bore you with a load of potentially useless detail here the first thing you need to figure out is if your idea is actually novel and inventive (the two basic criteria for being able to get a patent - slight differences between the EU and the US but broadly the same deal).
Just by way of preparation - most good ideas have already been had and patented by some other clever sod; it is a very frustrating game. Also, if your idea has not been patented but has been disclosed publicly by you or someone else with the same idea then you will struggle to get a patent for it - because then it is not novel.
Anyway - first thing to do is search existing patents and patent applications to see if the idea has already been disclosed and patented.
Follow this link and start searching. This is the EU database. There is also a US database (2nd link). Start with the EU one - it is a bit easier I think.
https://worldwide.espacenet.com/advancedSearch?loc...
http://patft.uspto.gov/
In the US one you need to search for Patents and then Applications. Applications are patents that have been filed but not yet granted. They still count since if they do get granted they have the patent, and if they don't get granted, well the idea has already been disclosed so is no longer novel.
So EU database first I'd suggest.
The trick is to add in search terms that are likely to have been used in a patent that seeks to protect your idea. Search for terms likely to have been included in the Abstract rather than the Title. The Abstract is effectively a short summary of the invention that goes at the top of every patent. It has more words and is much more likely to include the terms you will be looking for. Also, people often use deliberately vague patent Titles to make searching more difficult. I have about 8 patents with the Title "Device"!
So if you have an idea for a new umbrella then type Umbrella in the Abstract section and click Search. For what it is worth I just did that and got over 10,000 patents! The more specific you make the search the fewer hits you will get BUT the more likely you are to miss existing patents. It can take a while!
What ever your idea is you will almost definitely find some patents that cover similar ground. The next thing you need to do is read the Claims of the patent. These are the things that patents live and die by. If the claims do not accurately describe your idea then you may be OK.
Have a look. See what you come up with. If it looks positive after some careful searching maybe chat to a patent lawyer and see where that takes you. It ain't cheap sadly but if you have a cracking idea then there is a lot of cash to made from licensing it out or making it yourself.
Good luck. Post back with other question if you have them.
TD
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