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From: Nick Brooks on 2 Jan 2010 14:50
On 02/01/2010 18:04, Champ wrote:
> I've had an idea that I think is worth something. The only people who
> could implement this idea are a small number of multinational
> corporations, so I think the only way I could get some money for the
> idea would be to sell it to one of them.
>
> Does anyone know how I might go about protecting the idea, while I try
> and flog it? I assume that a patent is the proper way to do it, but I
> don't know how involved it is to get one - has anyone got any
> experience of filing a patent?
>
> I've heard of other ways of protection intellectual property - you
> write it down and post it to yourself (registered delivery). Does
> this actually work, or is it an urban myth?
>
> Thanks in advance

From http://www.trevorbaylisbrands.com

Top Ten Tips for Inventors

7. Patent, patent, patent - In the UK, the first to file a patent gets
the right to that invention (in the US it�s the first to invent). If the
costs of a patent attorney (which can come to thousands of pounds) are
outside your means, it may be worth drawing up a rough patent anyway and
filing it. In the UK, it�s free for the first year, and this means you
will have that date logged. As part of our service we will tell you if
there are any competing patents. This is so that you don't waste time by
filing for a patent that can't be granted. Armed with this knowledge you
can adapt your idea to improve the chances of a patent being granted to you.
From: GungaDan on 2 Jan 2010 15:26
On Jan 2, 6:04 pm, Champ <n...(a)champ.org.uk> wrote:
> I've had an idea that I think is worth something.  The only people who
> could implement this idea are a small number of multinational
> corporations, so I think the only way I could get some money for the
> idea would be to sell it to one of them.
>
> Does anyone know how I might go about protecting the idea, while I try
> and flog it?  I assume that a patent is the proper way to do it, but I
> don't know how involved it is to get one - has anyone got any
> experience of filing a patent?

The official word (where you can also search to see if it's already
patented in UK/Europe)
http://www.ipo.gov.uk/
Obviously, if you don't search for the right terms you may not find an
existing patent but it's worth a try. One reason why people pay patent
attorneys.

A few other considerations:
You need to find out whether it's patentable in the first place.
Software, for instance, is tricky in the UK.

You don't necessarily need a patent in order to sell the idea despite
what you might hear on Dragons' Den.

I guess that goes without saying really but the further along it is
the more it's worth. If you can knock up a working prototype that's
all to the good. If it's the sort of thing only multinationals are
likely to be able to exploit then I suppose that's likely to be quite
difficult.

You can sell the idea outright or licence it and take a royalty.

If the idea is in the public domain it can't be patented so don't
disclose it without at least a confidentiality agreement[1] in place.

A patent is published before it's granted and as soon as that happens
competitors can start to work on a way around it. If there's still a
couple of years of development work this is not so great and one of
the reasons it's not always worth the effort of patenting if you can
get into the market first.

[1] I've got a couple of templates you're welcome to or you could
probably find one online somewhere,

From: ginge on 2 Jan 2010 15:32
On Sat, 02 Jan 2010 18:04:47 +0000, Champ <news(a)champ.org.uk> wrote:

>I've had an idea that I think is worth something. The only people who
>could implement this idea are a small number of multinational
>corporations, so I think the only way I could get some money for the
>idea would be to sell it to one of them.
>
>Does anyone know how I might go about protecting the idea, while I try
>and flog it? I assume that a patent is the proper way to do it, but I
>don't know how involved it is to get one - has anyone got any
>experience of filing a patent?
>
>I've heard of other ways of protection intellectual property - you
>write it down and post it to yourself (registered delivery). Does
>this actually work, or is it an urban myth?
>
>Thanks in advance

Before you invest a significant amount of personal time in it, make
sure there's not a clause in your employment contract that gives them
claim to your inventions whilst in their employ.

With mine there is, but work also pay a one off lump sum for anything
sucessfully patented and use their own lawyers to do the legwork.
From: Grimly Curmudgeon on 2 Jan 2010 15:35
We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember Champ <news(a)champ.org.uk> saying
something like:

>I guess this would only come to an issue if they behaved
>'dishonorably' - if they listened to my idea, said "no thanks", and
>then went and did it anyway. And, as you say, I might find it hard to
>deal with that.

Oh no, you can trust them not to do that.

Hohoho.
From: Grimly Curmudgeon on 2 Jan 2010 15:46
We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember Champ <news(a)champ.org.uk> saying
something like:

>I've had an idea that I think is worth something.

Tell nobody unless you are absolutely watertight with it.
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