Patent Office

[Jason]

Hi. Does anyone know what the general rule of thumb is in regards to patenting an idea/concept/ alterations of other products and so on? I have an idea which is stupidly simple and may be worth gold to the military if  I could sell my concept to them. I hear it can be an expensive process. Does anyone have any experience with patenting ideas you have had?

[MJLorton]

Hi Jason,

I had some thoughts along these lines...but, it can be a very expensive process...someone can take the design and make a slight change / improvement which might not then be covered by your original patent.

And...the big one..if someone copies your patent...you have to have a lot of time and money to pursue them legally for the infringement.

A game for large companies and corporates.

If anyone has views to the contrary for the lone inventor please post.

Cheers,
Martin. 

[Jason]

Exactly what I was thinking. Especially with copy cat China nipping at your heels whenever new products come out they are replicated almost instantly. But then on the other side of the coin, the question is, if a world wide patent existed then would we have more or less products in the market and would it improve or destroy competitiveness? I'm not one for politics, maybe it's for the better

[Mr Eastwood]

Does anyone have any experience with patenting ideas you have had?

No; but I believe the best thing to do is to keep a "proper" inventors notebook and publish any significant inventions; as that I believe would constitute as "prior art" 

But I could be wrong, so don't sue me ;-)