How does a patent work? Has anyone applied for/been granted one?

[Kendodd]

How much does it cost? On the IPO web site it says it costs about £290 but I have heard it costs much more? How long does it take?

The cost stated on the IPO website is purely what the IPO charge. If you need a patent lawyer to draw up the application and advise you it will cost more than that.

A typical patent takes 2-3 years to grant from the time of application. You can get it processed more rapidly but it may not be in your interests to do so. You may be better off getting your invention on the market to see if it is commercially viable before committing to get the patent granted.

Note that a patent only protects you in the territories in which it is granted. So a UK patent does not protect your invention in, say, the USA.

If you haven't already done so you should take a look at the "what is a patent" page on the IPO website. This lists various types of inventions that are not patentable. Note that this list is different in other countries. For example, it is not generally possible to patent computer software in the UK but such patents are common in the USA.

Thanks for the answer.

"You can get it processed more rapidly but it may not be in your interests to do so"

Why is that?

"You may be better off getting your invention on the market to see if it is commercially viable before committing to get the patent granted."

Would another company just be able to copy it though?

One of the steps in obtaining a patent is that your application will be published. Once that happens anyone can read it and find out all the details of your invention. Unscrupulous competitors are therefore able to copy it, hoping that they will be able to move quickly enough to prevent you exploiting the invention successfully yourself and hence leaving you with insufficient funds to enforce the patent. You are also giving them time to find a way to launch a similar product without infringing your patent.

By going at a slower pace you give yourself more time before potential competitors find out about your invention. If someone infringes your patent during this time you can speed things up so you can take action against them. The fact that they have infringed your patent before it was granted does not stop you from taking action against them for that infringement, but you can't take action until the patent is granted.

Thank you, you have been really helpful.

Anyone else with experience in this?

Yes. A crucial point is do not disclose your invention unless under non-disclosure agreement before filing your patent application as this could prevent you from subsequently ontaining a patent. A professionally drafted patent application is likely to cost between £2000 and £6000 and prosecution costs to see it through to grant would be in addtion to this.

You may also want to think about the things required in order to get a patent approved in the first place; although if you did get legal help with the patent application it seems likely that they would help you with this. it needs to be

1. novel- not part of the state of the art. 2)have an inventive step- go past an obvious next step in innovation 3)be capable of industrial application Think you probably know all that, but didn't think it would hurt to add it. As to what prb47bridge says- for the purposes of avoiding exactly this, the enabling disclosure part of a patent is considered part of the state of the art. Therefore anyone attempting to copy your patent in this way would need to establish a different level of novelty and a new inventive step in order to establish their own patent based on yours. Techiegirl is right. you most definetely do not want to disclose your invention under any circumstances. the first thing any lawyer would probably ask you is "who have you told?" hope that helps, and you do get your patent :)