The little guy

If you are a solo inventor (or merely very creative), your ideas deserve protion of patenting. Often the cost of patenting is just plain too much for us little people. A really good way around that is to use the low cost provisional patent application that is authorized by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) which costs $ 125.00 to get and you get a lot of protection. You can then find investors, corporate partners of even buyers who will buy your patent and pay you a royalty. THEY then have the headache of getting the regular patent which, of course, they have the resources to do! ALL the forms are available at the USPTO but so are a lot of forms you don't need. You could hire an attorney, fill out forms online or get a kit that is reusable. Reusable is probably the best option to keep your cost down and you are saved the labor of wading through all the forms available which saves you a lot of time. There are a number of kit available so search on provisional patent kit or click on the link on this site. You'll be glad you did.

Drawings

Let's talk about drawings to be submitted with your provisional patent application. Drawings are NOT required to get a provisional patent. HOWEVER, they are good to include as it makes things easier for the patent examiners to connect your provisional patent with your regular patent filing. Drawings DO NOT have to be draftsman quality but it won't hurt to do a really good job. Check out the drawing reference in the sidebar. You won't regret it.

Patent Wars?

Sure enough there are BIG wars going on right now over patent rights. Can you guess why? Of course! Money!! There's big money in them thar' patents! I've embedded a graphic image of the patent wars going on right now and it's a real mess! More than enough reason for you to use the provisional patent route to protect your ideas from lawsuits. Of course, no one can guarantee you'll have no lawsuits but for the $ 125.00 filing fee, you get a LOT of protection. The US Government backs up your right to get a regular patent. That's significant. That means you'll be able to negotiate with a company or investor to fund the regular application with safety for your equity.
Check out the term "provisional patent" on the internet and see what's cooking!

What's the first step?

You have your million-dollar idea and you want to get moving before someone else beats you to it. What do you do? First thing is write a description of your invention that is detailed enough to be recognizable as to form and function. You will need this no matter what. Maybe you should make drawings to accompany your provisional patent application however, they are not required at this stage but can be helpful to relate your provisional patent with your regular patent application. You can learn about making drawings in the 'Expert Advice' link at the bottom of the blog. Then you can go to the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and get the forms needed to file for a provisional patent. If you don't know how to file for a provisional patent you can read a book or buy a kit or you can go do your research for free at the USPTO if you can spare the time to look through the hundreds of forms they have there. That part is free. A book tells you all you need to know and you can then go get the forms and fill them in. The advantage of a kit is that all the forms are in it complete with step-by-step instructions, which is a BIG timesaver.

Goal for 2012

This next year is the ¨year¨. I´ve have so many good ideas and have never done anything with them. Not anymore. It´s so cheap to get a provisional patent that I intend to get several. Then I´m going to sell the ideas to some big development company and let the royalties roll in!
Hey, if I´m going to have a fantasy, it might as well be a good one. Besides, I haven´t have any better ones lately. All of my ideas are really cool and will make life easier for the people who buy my invention. One of my best ideas is a ¨figure-9¨ to make things easier to tie down for shipping. Oh, wait, someone got there first. OK, I have a neat formula for displacing water and lubricating things. OOPS! Someone else got there first, too! Sheesh! I´d better get a move on.

A little lesson from history

Alexander Graham Bell arguably got the greatest patent of all time when he patented the telephone. You know yourself that telephones are everywhere because communicating with loved ones is our most important desire and the telephone helps us do that. Maybe you didn't know, though, that there was a court battle over rights to the patent. Elisha Gray also invented the telephone at the same time Bell did. Gray lost a bitterly contested court battle ultimately because Bell had better records and could prove he was first. There was something called a patent caveat that could be filed (no longer in use) that allowed someone to prevent someone else from filing first for a period of 90 days. Gray tried to use that but Bell's records were so much better, he lost anyway. Today, the provisional patent functions in a similar way to the caveat but it allows you a full year to get your act together and you can use, "Patent Pending" on your gizmo right away. PLUS, you are protected when negotiating a royalty agreement with someone with the resources to proceed to full patent protection. Right now, each provisional patent application costs $125 and you can prove when you had the idea. Cheap.

Preparing for the worst

Economies around the world are tanking and the US economy is right at the front of the pack. What will you do when you don't have a job and can't get one. Typically, in the good ole' US of A, people turn to self-reliance. It's a good idea to set the stage now if you have a good marketable idea for invention. Getting a patent is a long, expensive process but getting a provisional patent is not. Unless you do it entirely by yourself and study the myriad of forms at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (which does have all the forms needed, guaranteed, just try to figure out which ones to use). Trust me, this is time consuming and you may or may not get it right. There are several options you can use. If you have more money than time, you can hire a lawyer for several hundred dollars and get it done. Or, you can use an online service for a little less money. There are kits available online which reduce the cost to an acceptable level. Search for the best price as there are some really inexpensive kits that are really good. Whatever you do, get a provisional patent on your idea so you can negotiate securely with someone for a royalty agreement without worrying that your idea will be stolen. That is the purpose of a provisional patent. Good luck!