looking to patent an idea........

ok so i furgue ill post this here, what steps are needed to be able to patent an idea. Iv been doing some reading but looking for some 1st hand experience. And a good attorney that deals with these things.

You can’t patent an idea…you would have to manufacture the product and then patent the actual thing. A friend of my father’s has recently done it and it took a really long time and a lot of money from what I understand. You can copywrite an idea if I’m not mistaken but you need an actual object to patent.

Are you by any chance making a remote controlled buttplug? I’ve been in the market for one.
;]

is it a new and novel idea?

Legalzoom.com or what ever it is.

You have searched the existing patents thoroughly right?

Step 1) Tell me your idea.
Step 2) We will discuss after we get past step 1.

You can patent ideas. A patent I did at work was just completed (after 2 years and who knows how many tens of thousands of dollars). We never wrote any code, tried it in our product. Its just an idea for how to do something. So you dont NEED a physical item to patent.

Its pretty common to patent IP these days.

Dan

^ Yup.

Takes a lot of money and time to do this. Especially since the US patent office typically will deny you the first time you make a submission, so you have to go back and edit things to be more specific. They will not let you patent something that is really broad.

You better have at least $20k-$30k lying around.

I know some damn fine patent lawyers and when some family members looked into patenting a product, we were told just to get out there and sell the shit out of it before China copies it regardless of a patent.

My bro works at an IP firm in around DC. It’s VERY big business and IP is VERY patentable. Just not cheap.
I also like the comment ^^^ about China having no respect for a patents and copying anyhow. This is probably more common than even we might suspect.

Like everyone has said… Unless it’s something in a controlled field (Software, Medical, Aerospace, Automotive), just sell it and get it to market before China copies it.

Patents are not cheap; We’ve got an entire department at work who does nothing but patent paperwork and control.

A. Novel
B. Useful
C. Non-obvious to a person of average skill in the trade

At least that’s what the patent lawyer that visited one of my engineering classes taught us. :shrug:

I just got out of a 150 minute group meeting with a multinational alliance partner… The next person that says patent, IP or synergy is getting pistol whipped.

Shenanigans?

Beat me.