Patent Filing Advice

[Marctwo]

I posed this question in another thread and sent it way off topic... so sorry for that.    Hopefully, starting this thread will enable the former to resume and also make this info more accessible.

@Alan:  You mention protecting your device as if it's just a simple matter of course.  I've been looking into patent filing over the last week or so and I'm quite overwhelmed with the complexity of the process, the time involved and, of course, the costs.

Are there any good guides to patent applications that can help make the whole thing less daunting?

@Marctwo

If you go the lawyer way it will cost the rip out of you. At this time there is no working wheel, so you have to wonder what possible patent infringement will you be making. Now a patent search is important and how you word your patent is very important. It has to be written in a way that will make it hard on the patent thieves (the little change way) from happening and then after patent pending is in place, you can show the media for exposure. I received this information from the patent office itself, and close dependable friends.

The patent office will not experiment with your invention unless they have independent verification of its authenticity. In other words: all the world knows about it already. They too believe that such an invention is impossible.

A better hope at making money with it would be to introduce it to a corporation that has patent lawyers that will attempt to protect your invention, after they have vested interest in the project.

You should help protect yourself from the corporation outright stealing your invention when you show it to them, have a third party sit in with you on demo day, and video tape the demo.  Also; posting your invention on this site and starting a discussion is a valid means of establishing priority.  Sharing a slice of the pie with a corporation gives you a better shot at making money: it is a big pie.

Cheers guys.

From looking at other patent spec's and official guides, I think I could probably handle a local application (UK for me) without professional help and quite cheaply too.  But when it comes to worldwide patents, it all gets a bit out of hand.

The WIPO can make it a little cheaper and easier initially but they don't represent all countries and will only handle the initial application.  After which you have to deal directly with each country's local patent office to get a granted status.  It seems the costs can be huge even without enrolling the help of a solicitor/agent.  And which countries should you go for anyway???

Both the UK patent office and the WIPO say that the invention must not be made public before it is published 18 months from filing/priority date.  They also say that publishing can be speeded up... but I haven't found out how yet.  Still, this seems an extraordinary amount of time to have to sit on your ideas.

I do like the idea of getting corporate backing for this process in return for a vested interest and have been thinking that current alternative energy companies may be a good place to start looking.  Afterall, they may be hit harder than most initially.