When you have an earth shaking idea, you want to protect it. The reason, of course, is you want to reap the financial rewards from the idea that you came up with.
Money Barriers
There are 4 barriers that you must get through to get to the money on the other side:
1. Is your idea original with you? Often, what you think is your original idea, was actually patented previously. To answer this question, you need to perform a patent search. A good patent search will define what has been patented, that is related to your invention. It can also help you decide how to position your patent between the patents already issued or pending in your subject area.
2. Can you afford the cost of a patent attorney to prepare the patent for you? If you can't afford the $10,000-$20,000 that a patent attorney will charge to do the whole job, you can do much of the process yourself and save money. However, there are parts of the patent that are essential for a patent attorney to perform. The most important of these are the claims. If the claims are not correctly done, then the patent will likely not be defendable. Strong patents are worth much more money!
3. You must pay the patent office fees for you invention submission. The government fees are something that you can't get around. Now the waiting begins. It may take up to 2 years before your patent is actually issued. Part of the delay, may be requirements for adjustments to the filed patent by some whimsical patent agent. You must be prepared to make the necessary adjustments that are requested by the patent office. If you don't respond to their requests in a timely manner, your patent application will be considered abandoned. At least you now have patent pending status.
4. Is your patent commercially feasible? What if you have spent your money and your time to get a patent, and no one feels it is valuable? A little market research before you begin the invention submission patent process is a very good idea. A few questions that you might want to ask are: "What is the demand for your product?" "Are the other products out there that can do the same thing?" "Can it be sold for a price that will yield a satisfactory profit after costs?"
If you really have faith in your revolutionary idea, then it may be worth exploring whether it will be able to cross the above barriers. The cost that you incur to overcome each of these barriers is your bet that your patent will be a financial success. Your submission of your invention to the patent office may just be your ticket to financial security!
