How to file a patent application

The other day I had an idea. It's a relatively simple idea, but I don't see it being commercially exploited anywhere and I think it's very exploitable.

Anybody know what I should do next?

The idea is simple enough that in a way I almost wonder if it is valid to patent it. Obviously I don't want to give anything away. The guidance on the ipo website is pretty vague, is there any place I can get some examples of what can and cannot be patented?

I had a gander at the UK intellectual property office, and it looks like Patent applications are quite expensive. Does anybody know if there's any cheaper way I can find out if this idea has already been covered by someone else?

If I do decide to go ahead with a Patent application, does anybody know what I should include in the application? Since they are so expensive, I'd be keen to get it right first time.

In brief, has anyone here been through this process before, or is anyone able to advise me on protecting this idea?

Well, I found this website which allows you to search patents by keyword. From a few initial searches using keywords, I've found nothing like my idea, which is encouraging.

The website also allows you to look at the original patent documents. I'm guessing something like this is what I would have to submit:
Random UK patent I found there:
http://v3.espacenet.com/publicationD...C&locale=en_gb

I'm pretty sure I could make a more professional presentation than that, and if something like that can be patented, I'm pretty sure my idea can be to.

I believe Atilius registered a patent IIRC. Perhaps try asking him?

Thanks for the tip Moros, I'll send him a visitor message.

Myrddraal,

I'm probably not going to be much help, but I'll do what I can. My patent applications were filed by my employer's patent law firm. I just prepared a description of the invention (algorithms in both cases) and talked to the patent lawyer for about an hour. He took notes and sent me drafts of the application to review. It's kind of funny - I barely recognized the draft application for my first patent. I understand now why it was prepared the way it was, but it was pretty puzzling at the time.

Anyway, what I can do is look for the patent applications and make them available to you; I hope they'll be useful as examples. They may be on the U S Patent Office website and, if not, I have electronic copies somewhere. I'll get back to you with the particulars later.

While we're on the subject, let me mention a funny patent-related incident.

Last year, my company filed a Chinese patent application based on my first US patent. I got an email from the woman (Susan) who handles this stuff at work. Susan forwarded the message she had received from the company's patent firm, containing some instructions and an electronic copy of a document. I assume they wanted me to print and sign the document, which is what Susan asked me to do, but the email read as follows:

From: Deanne
Sent: Tuesday, May 05, 2009 12:48 PM
To: Susan
Subject: RE: Certificate of Priority Assignment

Susan,

Please find attached the corrected Certificate of Priority Assignment. Please have the inventors executed and return at your earliest convenience.

I apologize for the delay in getting this out to you.

Yours very truly,

Deanne
International Patent Paralegal

I think this was supposed to read "have the inventors execute it" but, just in case, I requested the rest of the week off, and spent it barricaded in my basement.

Step 1: hide if from Sony

Thanks for the info Atilius, I've got a couple of patent documents from that European website I mentioned.

Here's another thing which has been bothering me. I've been preparing some drawings, and as I do so it's very tempting to go into fine detail. However, the basic idea does not depend on these details, and could actually be implemented in a variety of ways. Is it possible to protect the general idea, or does a patent only protect a specific design? It would be quite easy for someone to create a slightly different implementation, so obviously I'd be keen to get as general protection as possible.

you have to be very detailed because if commercially it could ever be used the corporations will have law firms of patent lawyers looking for loopholes to exploit.

But if I am too specific, couldn't a laywer say: "Ah but our design uses a slightly larger screw than what you specified, therefore it's a different design"? Obviously that's an extreme case, but I hope you see what I'm getting at.