The process and places for Patenting an idea?
 

My friend is looking to patent a tangible product, and he was talking to me about it, and I told him I will come here and ask since I know people wouild have information here.

I know Evan of XPAYS is familiar with the patent process, so evan if you can give your input as well, that would be awsome!

He basically wants to know roughly how much it might cost to patent a product, how long it might take, and what are the most economical places/attorneys that would do this for you.

Thank you everyone!

Have a fantastic new idea and dreams of getting rich off of the patent?
Great! The Chinese and Koreans are waiting patiently to begin the super quick process of manufacturing outstanding versions of your idea and getting them on the shelves while your wondering what the fuck happened.

Getting the patent is the easy and cheap part of everything. Enforcing it is the expensive part.

exactly, it costs way too much money. there are so many countries you would have to patent it in, someone can steal your idea, snazzy it up, and start selling it across borders. it just isnt feasible. or it wasnt for me at the time. :(

Right, I realise it may be hard to enforce in some countries, but he still wants to patent it, so what would be a good place to do that and such?

Bumpeeee

Unless you're friend has alot of money...
Forget about the Patent process.

Well how much money does it cost? This is what I am trying to figure out from someone who has had experience

Bump for more answers.

One more try for an answer :(

One last bump :(

there is a patents department in every major goverment, check a website e.g. whitehouse

it depends how much of the legwork your friend can do himself. the patent process is specifically designed so that one could possibly see the entire process through by one's self even if one is not a lawyer. a lot of inventors will use a hybrid and start it off prior to handing it off to an experienced ip attorney. the costs depend on the above factor, the number of claims for the invention, and any office actions during the process. estimating the cost is difficult without more info but easily 5 figures.

Thanks Evan, good inf. Anyone else can add to this?

I know a fair amount about patents.

To get a patent, your device has to be "new, useful, and non-obvious." You can search the USPTO database at [www.uspto.gov] for similar inventions.

Cost to get a patent is approximately $10,000. It depends on alot of factors.

The big question is: what to do with the patent once you get it? Licensing a raw patent to a company is a shot in the dark, a lousy business model. The odds of such success are miniscule. The reason is because the truly expensive part of such a licensing model requires huge investment by the licensee: the national media buying, molds, packaging, inventory, warehousing, shipping, customer sales & support, etc..

The prospective licensee company looks at it this way: why take all that risk and pay a royalty, when we can sell our own products at a higher margin because we have no royalty to pay?

If there is no still talking you out of it, the likeliest route to market is to take the patent, mortgage your house, and start a small business around it. Prove it will sell. Then, when it is making money, you can make a better case for licensing it to a big company, because it is a proven product. That's how most licensing deals get done by independent inventors.

Another patent business model is "patent roadblocks." Get a patent for a technology that will become indispensible, then wait, and sue infringers. But, you need a portfolio of patents to make it a viable business. And, you must make sure you enforce certain rights in a timely manner, or you could lose them.

"Cluster patents" is another related strategy. Find a hot new technology, and file patents around it, on similar or dependent processes or technologies or compounds or uses.

Don't spend billions to patent a new drug. Wait until big pharma comes out with a new drug, then patent a better delivery system for that drug.

I know firms that will enforce patents on contingency.