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1) Consult a specialised patent attorney. If he considers your idea as patentable go to 2. If not, go to 99
2) Ask him to conduct a preliminary search for prior art. If he still considers your idea as patentable, go to 3, if not, go to 98
3) Get your attorney to draw up an application for your country alone and file it. This is the important point because the date of filing establishes prior art for any one subsequently trying to patent the same thing. Go to 4
4) Wait. Go to 5
5) Your local Patent Office will issue either a provisional or definitive decision, based on your claims and that of prior art. If the decision is definitive and negative, go to 99. If the decision is provisional, go to 6. If the decision is definitive and positive, go to 7
6) Consider, with your attorney, the merits of the result and choose whether to go back to 3 to supply complementary info or go to 99
7) If you are infinitely rich go to 20, if not go to 8
8) If you are reasonably rich, go to 30, if not go to 9
9) Having established the prior art, try to find an interested manufacturing/marketing party, still under conditions of strict secrecy, develop it and put it on the market so that you have a year's advance before a competitor can market it. but do not file for a full patent. Go to 40.
20) File for the patent in as many countries as possible
30) File for the patent in a few countries likely to be your main markets
40) Tell the attorney that you are not pusuing the matter.
98) Consider whether to try another attorney, If so, go to 1, if not, go to 99
99) Abandon the idea
Reasoning: Filing an application, with attorney's fees, may cost you €1000 or a bit more. Obtaining the definitive patent in 1 country will cost a lot more, and multiply that by the number of countries. If someone contests or infringes your patent, you have to take him to court. Your attorney's and the court fees will be ~€50,000 up front for each country where you are contested, with no guarantee that you will get a cent back, even if you win. Your best bet is to file an application to establish prior art at an official level, so no one else can patent, drop it after the decision, develop and flood the market with it before any one else gets wind of it, so that the VJGizmo becomes a byword for the device before the competition can even start. Been there, done that, many times. IOW, you are investing in having the device produced, rather than paying for the services of bureaucrats, attorneys and other parasites. My estimate is that if you wish to follow the patent route and are prepared to invest to defend your interests, be prepared to pay up to €1M (or more) Ã* fonds perdus.
2) Ask him to conduct a preliminary search for prior art. If he still considers your idea as patentable, go to 3, if not, go to 98
3) Get your attorney to draw up an application for your country alone and file it. This is the important point because the date of filing establishes prior art for any one subsequently trying to patent the same thing. Go to 4
4) Wait. Go to 5
5) Your local Patent Office will issue either a provisional or definitive decision, based on your claims and that of prior art. If the decision is definitive and negative, go to 99. If the decision is provisional, go to 6. If the decision is definitive and positive, go to 7
6) Consider, with your attorney, the merits of the result and choose whether to go back to 3 to supply complementary info or go to 99
7) If you are infinitely rich go to 20, if not go to 8
8) If you are reasonably rich, go to 30, if not go to 9
9) Having established the prior art, try to find an interested manufacturing/marketing party, still under conditions of strict secrecy, develop it and put it on the market so that you have a year's advance before a competitor can market it. but do not file for a full patent. Go to 40.
20) File for the patent in as many countries as possible
30) File for the patent in a few countries likely to be your main markets
40) Tell the attorney that you are not pusuing the matter.
98) Consider whether to try another attorney, If so, go to 1, if not, go to 99
99) Abandon the idea
Reasoning: Filing an application, with attorney's fees, may cost you €1000 or a bit more. Obtaining the definitive patent in 1 country will cost a lot more, and multiply that by the number of countries. If someone contests or infringes your patent, you have to take him to court. Your attorney's and the court fees will be ~€50,000 up front for each country where you are contested, with no guarantee that you will get a cent back, even if you win. Your best bet is to file an application to establish prior art at an official level, so no one else can patent, drop it after the decision, develop and flood the market with it before any one else gets wind of it, so that the VJGizmo becomes a byword for the device before the competition can even start. Been there, done that, many times. IOW, you are investing in having the device produced, rather than paying for the services of bureaucrats, attorneys and other parasites. My estimate is that if you wish to follow the patent route and are prepared to invest to defend your interests, be prepared to pay up to €1M (or more) Ã* fonds perdus.
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