How do I file to patent and ideas?

Matt Plant

A patent is a set of exclusive rights granted by a state to an inventor or his assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for a disclosure of an invention.

The procedure for granting patents, the requirements placed on the patentee and the extent of the exclusive rights vary widely between countries according to national laws and international agreements. Typically, however, a patent application must include one or more claims defining the invention which must be new, inventive, and useful or industrially applicable. In many countries, certain subject areas are excluded from patents, such as business methods and mental acts. The exclusive right granted to a patentee in most countries is the right to prevent others from making, using, selling, or distributing the patented invention without permission.[1]

Under the World Trade Organization's (WTO) Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, patents should be available in WTO member states for any inventions, in all fields of technology,[2] and the term of protection available should be minimum twenty years.[3] Different types of patents may have varying patent terms (i.e., durations).

scullion

In the UK, go to this government website and follow the links. Or, if you (very sensibly) don't trust this link, type "UK Patent Office" into a search engine.

http://www.ipo.gov.uk/

The short answer is that you can't patent an idea. You can patent an invention/implementation of an idea that satisfies certain strict criteria. Expect a whole life cost of about Â£100,000 for a patent in all major territories. Expect to spent a healthy wad of money before you even know whether your invention is patentable in a given territory.

It might be that what you need is a good confidentiality agreement to protect your interests ... but few High Street solicitors would know a 'good' one if it jumped up and bit them.

If you want to seek legal advice, you need an Intellectual Property lawyer or a Patent Attorney. Both are even more expensive than regular lawyers but, if you NEED one, they are worth it. An early opinion from a patent attorney could save you wasting a fortune.

carjug

Does your idea work? has someone who is a professional cook already done it? Do you have SAMPLES?

Look, patents are expensive, and often a waste of money. Make sure you can get a return on infvestment before you write the govt a check.

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