Have you ever had an idea patented?
By cynddvs
@cynddvs (2948)
United States
September 6, 2007 11:32pm CST
I had a great idea tonight that I thought would be cool to get a patent on and sell. Actually I had this idea quite a while back and never did research on it until tonight. Turns out someone beat me to my idea. So I guess I just move on and try to think of something else.
Have you ever got a patent or sold one of your ideas? If so, did you make money off of it and how long did it take?
1 response
@patentingly (6)
• United States
7 Sep 07
If you have an idea which may make you money, the first and the most important thing to do is to not talk or post about it in public. It could be used against you. Probably the cheapest way to make money from your idea is to file a provisional application with the US Patent and Trademark Office. The requirements for filing a provisional application are more lenient and less expensive than a filing a utility patent application.
You were smart to first find out whether your idea was novel or not prior to talking to a patent attorney, as they could have charged you a whole lot of money for telling you the same thing - "sorry, someone's already done that."
Btw, there's a great website which gives comprehensive information about the whole patenting process - www.e-formationcentral.com
you may want to check it out.
