If you’re a mad scientist type, or even if you’ve just come up with a cool invention out of necessity, ensuring the product is protected properly before announcing it to the world should be a top priority. You never know, even if the item seems a little wacky and pointless to you, you might be overlooking a use that has global appeal, and this means you could do yourself out of a significant sum of money if someone else decides to copy it. With that in mind, I’m going to spend some time this morning explaining exactly how you should go about patenting your idea.
At the end of the day, if you fail to take this route and release an unpatented product to the world, other companies will jump straight in, copy the design, produce it cheaper and completely undercut you.
Determining If The Idea Is Unique
Firstly, you’ll need to determine whether the product is, in fact, original. You can do this yourself by searching through similar registered patents online and comparing your idea and techniques to those. However, the chances of you getting this right without the assistance of a reputable attorney are slim, and so you might want to head on over and check out londonip.com as well as their competitors. Having experts on side to help deal with the more complex issues relating to your application will benefit you in a number of different ways.
Applying For Your Patent
As I mentioned a second ago, you really should look for some professional help when applying for patents on any invention you may have conceived, but that doesn’t mean you can’t opt for the DIY approach if you’re willing to put the effort in. The first form of your application will require you to gather lots of information about your new product and give a full description of the invention. This should include sketches, images, and anything else that would help an outsider understand the concept. Also, you’ll need to add a list of claims that you feel describe the invention and explain why it’s so different to anything out there at the moment. This could mean listing possible applications or simply explaining which problem your device solves.
If you are in a team of inventors who’ve worked on the project together, you all need to sign a basic statement of inventorship confirming your involvement in the work.
Receiving Your Patent
Unfortunately, to receive your patent, you’ll have to send a sum of money to the relevant office to pay for the search. The people there will then spend months looking through previously filed patents in the same vein in an attempt to determine if your idea is completely original or not. There’s no real way of knowing how this will turn out, but so long as you’ve got a decent attorney or you’ve done lots of research yourself, the chances of things going wrong can be reduced. In almost all instances these days, UK patents take longer than 6 months to go through, so don’t expect to receive an answer immediately. On the plus side though, the longer you wait, the more chance there is of you being successful.
So, now you know a little bit more about filing patents and the process you’ll have to engage in, I hope the idea sounds less daunting than it once did. Inventing new products is something you should be very proud of, and this is why you need to take proper precautions to ensure the designs are registered with the authorities.
Good luck with your next wacky invention!
Image reproduced with permission
