Patents and Trademarks » non provisional patent application http://www.tmpsearchers.com/patent-consulting Just another WordPress weblog Mon, 21 Jun 2010 11:29:48 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7.1 en hourly 1 How to Patent an Idea? http://www.tmpsearchers.com/patent-consulting/2009/04/11/how-to-patent-an-idea/ http://www.tmpsearchers.com/patent-consulting/2009/04/11/how-to-patent-an-idea/#comments Sat, 11 Apr 2009 07:37:03 +0000 Ramaswami http://www.tmpsearchers.com/patent-consulting/?p=6 Is it possible to patent an idea per se?. Copyright protects expression and Patent laws protect inventions, but if you only have an idea and nothing more concrete you will not be protected. Many people will have great ideas, but will not be able to put that idea into a package appropriate for a patent because there is no invention, only a concept. Surely, the idea is the all critical first step in the invention process. After you come up with the idea or concept you now need to put together a game plan on how to carry that idea through. The idea and game plan together form what the law calls conception. Conception is an important concept in patent law because the first person to invent that will ultimately receive the exclusive rights on an invention.  There is however a way to protect an idea. If you can get someone to sign a confidentiality agreement, then they will be promising not to use your idea without your permission. This is not a form of intellectual property though. You are extracting a promise and if the person breaks that promise you can sue them for breach of contract.  Before shopping your ideas around it is always prudent to refine the ideas into a working invention. Then file some kind of patent application on the invention. By having a patent pending you have secured some rights, and you have an asset, even though it will not mature into an exclusive right until a patent is ultimately issued. With the patent pending you can decide to disclose even without a confidentiality agreement and still rest assured that what you have described in the pending application is yours. Therefore, if you cannot get an interested party to sign a confidentiality agreement and you still want to disclose, perhaps because they are a major company, disclose only after having some kind of patent application on file. A patent is expensive as it would involve a huge search to find out if your patent infringes an earlier one. Protecting an Idea

Intellectual property law is a complex area and it is worth spending money on professional advice early on. The level of protection you wrap around your idea depends on what it is and whether it is legally possible to protect. It is difficult to protect a raw idea, but anything physical has potentially robust legal defenses. There are also other ’softer’ forms of protection and confidentiality agreements that may be more appropriate. Speed to market can be a factor.

Alternatives to full patent protection

You cannot patent an idea. A strong internet idea for example can be ‘protected’ by signing a Non-Disclosure Agreement but these often don’t have the legal teeth that you might expect. Rather than patent a process, the inventor could keep it completely secret and work alone, or in conjunction with others under a know-how or confidentiality agreement.

The moral is that ideas are not protected. Think invention!

posted in Intellectual Property by Ramaswami
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]]> Is it possible to patent an idea per se?. Copyright protects expression and Patent laws protect inventions, but if you only have an idea and nothing more concrete you will not be protected. Many people will have great ideas, but will not be able to put that idea into a package appropriate for a patent because there is no invention, only a concept. Surely, the idea is the all critical first step in the invention process. After you come up with the idea or concept you now need to put together a game plan on how to carry that idea through. The idea and game plan together form what the law calls conception. Conception is an important concept in patent law because the first person to invent that will ultimately receive the exclusive rights on an invention.  There is however a way to protect an idea. If you can get someone to sign a confidentiality agreement, then they will be promising not to use your idea without your permission. This is not a form of intellectual property though. You are extracting a promise and if the person breaks that promise you can sue them for breach of contract.  Before shopping your ideas around it is always prudent to refine the ideas into a working invention. Then file some kind of patent application on the invention. By having a patent pending you have secured some rights, and you have an asset, even though it will not mature into an exclusive right until a patent is ultimately issued. With the patent pending you can decide to disclose even without a confidentiality agreement and still rest assured that what you have described in the pending application is yours. Therefore, if you cannot get an interested party to sign a confidentiality agreement and you still want to disclose, perhaps because they are a major company, disclose only after having some kind of patent application on file. A patent is expensive as it would involve a huge search to find out if your patent infringes an earlier one. Protecting an Idea

Intellectual property law is a complex area and it is worth spending money on professional advice early on. The level of protection you wrap around your idea depends on what it is and whether it is legally possible to protect. It is difficult to protect a raw idea, but anything physical has potentially robust legal defenses. There are also other ’softer’ forms of protection and confidentiality agreements that may be more appropriate. Speed to market can be a factor.

Alternatives to full patent protection

You cannot patent an idea. A strong internet idea for example can be ‘protected’ by signing a Non-Disclosure Agreement but these often don’t have the legal teeth that you might expect. Rather than patent a process, the inventor could keep it completely secret and work alone, or in conjunction with others under a know-how or confidentiality agreement.

The moral is that ideas are not protected. Think invention!

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