Patenting an idea / concept
Discussion
Hi folks
Following a very rare moment of genius inspiration, I have an idea for a product that is very simple, has an almost global market and, from what I can see through doing a bit of key word searching on Google, doesn’t appear to exist.
Rather than go through the expense of creating prototypes and bringing an early version to market, is there any way one can patent an idea to enable the concept to be sold to manufacturers who would have a much lower cost of manufacturer and far greater end user reach?
Following a very rare moment of genius inspiration, I have an idea for a product that is very simple, has an almost global market and, from what I can see through doing a bit of key word searching on Google, doesn’t appear to exist.
Rather than go through the expense of creating prototypes and bringing an early version to market, is there any way one can patent an idea to enable the concept to be sold to manufacturers who would have a much lower cost of manufacturer and far greater end user reach?
Hi, let me know in details the scheme / idea and I'll be able to advise you how to be able to patent it. 
INA(P)L but one of my friends is and he knows of people who use this sort of 'scrape' I think they call it to steal ideas!
Possibly the best advice is to get to a patent lawyer, though seeing how rich my mate is they must have some scam going to get all that money off otherwise well meaning individuals.
INA(P)L but one of my friends is and he knows of people who use this sort of 'scrape' I think they call it to steal ideas!
Possibly the best advice is to get to a patent lawyer, though seeing how rich my mate is they must have some scam going to get all that money off otherwise well meaning individuals.
To patent something you need more than an abstract idea. It’s lengthy expensive and time consuming to obtain a patent. More information here: https://www.gov.uk/patent-your-invention.
Try this book
I've used it for filing patents and Neil is quite happy to give advice.
It helps if you have been a technical author or have similar skills.
I've used it for filing patents and Neil is quite happy to give advice.
It helps if you have been a technical author or have similar skills.
Lotus Notes said:
Try this book
I've used it for filing patents and Neil is quite happy to give advice.
It helps if you have been a technical author or have similar skills.
Thanks.bought I've used it for filing patents and Neil is quite happy to give advice.
It helps if you have been a technical author or have similar skills.
Including joint patents, patents pending and patents in company's internal process I have nearly 20 patents.
Here are a few observations:
Patents are more like a bulk commodity than unicorn semen (rare and valuable). That is an individual patent is generally pretty worthless, most of the top industrials pump out hundreds of patents a year and typically do not prevent each other from conducting business.
Most patents don't stop your rivals from achieving the same technical results as you, it just prevents them from copying. This forces them to go away and come up with a different method of achieving the same effect which given that they have access to the same laws of physics normally means that they can.
A patent's value is generally directly proportional to the amount of work that went into it, a drugs patent is worth a great deal because a drug is expensive to develop and cheap to produce. Really valuable patents like blue LED's had enough research behind it to earn the holders a Noble prize.
A patent is a negative right it stops somebody from doing what you can do, if you don't exploit the patent it is unlikely that somebody with sunk costs in an "inferior" technology will have any incentive for adopting your idea. If you have a patent for an idea which you aren't willing to invest in to make work why would somebody else want to invest in it?
What is the domain of the invention?
Practical advice:
1: Read a book on patents and IP rights, most basically understand what you can and cannot patent e.g. you can't patent a business idea, but you can patent a sequence of clicks on a website.
2: Read some books on start-ups (e.g Lean Start-Up) and business in general
3: Do a patent search using one of the many open access databases like espacenet
Here are a few observations:
Patents are more like a bulk commodity than unicorn semen (rare and valuable). That is an individual patent is generally pretty worthless, most of the top industrials pump out hundreds of patents a year and typically do not prevent each other from conducting business.
Most patents don't stop your rivals from achieving the same technical results as you, it just prevents them from copying. This forces them to go away and come up with a different method of achieving the same effect which given that they have access to the same laws of physics normally means that they can.
A patent's value is generally directly proportional to the amount of work that went into it, a drugs patent is worth a great deal because a drug is expensive to develop and cheap to produce. Really valuable patents like blue LED's had enough research behind it to earn the holders a Noble prize.
A patent is a negative right it stops somebody from doing what you can do, if you don't exploit the patent it is unlikely that somebody with sunk costs in an "inferior" technology will have any incentive for adopting your idea. If you have a patent for an idea which you aren't willing to invest in to make work why would somebody else want to invest in it?
What is the domain of the invention?
Practical advice:
1: Read a book on patents and IP rights, most basically understand what you can and cannot patent e.g. you can't patent a business idea, but you can patent a sequence of clicks on a website.
2: Read some books on start-ups (e.g Lean Start-Up) and business in general
3: Do a patent search using one of the many open access databases like espacenet
if the product is very simple as you put it then its likely to be copied to death by the chinese which makes your patent pointless.
Patents are only really valuable for things that are complicated and require huge investment like a jet engine, because the company infringing has too much skin in the game in investment to risk a patent suit and it becomes cheaper to license it.
if it's a low margin item you'll be unlikely to recover the patent cists and patent litigation for infringement would be unlikely to recover the legal costs.
It's generally held in business that ideas are worthless - it's the brand and product/market fit that creates the value. There are countless copies of cola drinks but coca cola remains dominant through a strong brand.
it's relatively dirty cheap these days to get a proof of concept made with 3d printing, if you get something made and prove a good product market fit then you have something - if you expect a company to cut you a cheque off the back of an idea patented or not then you are likely to be dissapointed I'm afraid.
Patents are only really valuable for things that are complicated and require huge investment like a jet engine, because the company infringing has too much skin in the game in investment to risk a patent suit and it becomes cheaper to license it.
if it's a low margin item you'll be unlikely to recover the patent cists and patent litigation for infringement would be unlikely to recover the legal costs.
It's generally held in business that ideas are worthless - it's the brand and product/market fit that creates the value. There are countless copies of cola drinks but coca cola remains dominant through a strong brand.
it's relatively dirty cheap these days to get a proof of concept made with 3d printing, if you get something made and prove a good product market fit then you have something - if you expect a company to cut you a cheque off the back of an idea patented or not then you are likely to be dissapointed I'm afraid.
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