Applying for a patent

[Libelula21]

Hi,

I want to lodge a patent application but it’s still something speculative so don’t want to go through lawyers at this stage.

Has anyone applied for a patent before and can ward me off any schoolgirl errors?

thanks!

When I was involved in industry:
It's complicated
It's very difficult to get right
It's very easy to do and not actually cover yourself
There is a reason patent attorneys get paid mega bucks

Are you sure what you have is patentable? And have you read many other patents in the area of your invention?

Thanks for replying.

I’m not sure whether its patentable and I need to do more reading.

I’m at the stage where I need more technical input / help with prototyping and so want to protect myself. I’m going to start having conversations with people who don’t have the concept but could potentially run with it and develop it without me.

It’s something that seems surprising it hasn’t been done yet, one small technical obstacle that’s far from rocket science, and if it gains traction it could be a big thing with huge social value.

I got one a few years back and it was a simple product.

cost about £25k. Before doing it the lawyers said they’d searched and there was nothing like it, but over time stuff cropped up and all the elements of it were covered so it was a waste of time.

Have you done thorough searches of existing patents to make sure no one has already got a patent for it, or something similar?