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Good luck with it Rich, as an ex engineer I considered going into intellectual property law (I did take an elective course and enjoyed it) but would have to have moved to a big city and became a real lawyer versus a laid back semi retired Country Lawyer so that was that lol. First of all just an "idea" is not something you can get a patent for, it has to be developed into a new and useful system or process or machine or way of doing something thats NOT already been issued patent protection, although, its normal for such to start as merely an idea so hang in there. What Im saying is you obviously cant obtain patent protection for some "idea", you have to be able to develop and demonstrate something (machine, system, process) new and useful..... .... The patent office simply doesnt get into issuing protection for ideas.... They like engineering drawings and prototypes and well laid out very descriptive information to be able to evaluate what youre seeking protection for and whether or not its already been granted. Sure its gonna cost you some bucks, but Id advise you to seek an initial very preliminary consultatiuon with a well known reputable Patent Attorney (a specialist in intellectual property law ONLY,,,,,NOT any general practitioner) who can listen and counsel you BEFORE you ever get to the point of a full blown patent search which takes some time n skill n bucks. Once you obtain such a patent, the next step would be to license it to a manufacturing or production n marketing
type firm to manufacture n market the product. As Im sure youre aware, this is NOT something that can be settled here and there are all sorts of lay opinions floating around out there but its good to toss things out n hear others experiences before you venture out. It is a good idea to well document and protect what you have so far, but be aware if someone else has the same thing in mind its a "race" to the patent office and first one there wins, i.e if Joe Blow beats you to the office with an identical application he wins n you looseeeee eee grrrrr rrrr NOTE say your idea is to manufacture some sort of tool that farmers and mechanics etc would use n buy YOU DONT NECESSARILY NEED A PATENT to make n sell it (if someone else already has patent protection believe me you will hear about it lol), find a company to make n market it and "go for it" When you see all those Ronco type gizmos n gadgets on TV and even where some say patent applied for, most of those neither have a patent nor is one available, someone had an "idea" for a product (probably not patentable in the first place) n hired the Acme Widget Co. to make it n found a firm to advertise it on late night TV PERIOD..... MOST LIL GIZMOS N GADGETS OR MANY FARM OR OTHER TOOLS ETC CANT EVEN BE ISSUED PATENT PROTECTION IN THE FIRST PLACE. It has to be a new n useful n somewhat unique machine system or tool or process or way of doing something i.e say I wanted to make something simple like a claw hammer etc with an extra side attachment for some weird purpose, the office wouldnt grant me patent protection for that. DONT GET DISCOURAGED RICH, if your idea is something that can be developed and demonstrated and is new n useful n unique it may be afforded patent protection n will require an attorney n a search etc buttttt tttt even if not, if you can find a firm to manufacture n market it theres nuttin stoppin you and that Patent Attorney can still help to first determine if its something that has patent protection already BEFORE you try to make n market it FIND A PATENT ATTORNEY AND HAVE AN INITIAL CONSULATION I would be wary of these TV ads concerning takign your ideas to them lol John T Country Lawyer in Indiana
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