How to check if a patent already exists?

randomshenans

randomshenans

randomshenans

Soldato
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To the product designers, inventors, people who have done this...

I have an idea for a product that ideally I'd like to try and "cover" in some way with a patent, and I've searched high and low to see if I can find any instances of it existing, and so far can't (as a product) but this is tough going looking for products, that could contain my "technology".

Is there any way of searching for a patent? Or anything like that?

Second to that; I have an idea, I've got very rough sketches etc. but I'd like to get a product designer to create a proper drawing of my design. Anyone on here a product designer? :P Or know the best way to start this process?

For once, I'm going to actually do something with the awesome ideas in my head. :P God help us all.:D
 
randomshenans said:
To the product designers, inventors, people who have done this...

I have an idea for a product that ideally I'd like to try and "cover" in some way with a patent, and I've searched high and low to see if I can find any instances of it existing, and so far can't (as a product) but this is tough going looking for products, that could contain my "technology".

Is there any way of searching for a patent? Or anything like that?

Second to that; I have an idea, I've got very rough sketches etc. but I'd like to get a product designer to create a proper drawing of my design. Anyone on here a product designer? :P Or know the best way to start this process?

For once, I'm going to actually do something with the awesome ideas in my head. :P God help us all.:D
Click to expand...

If make lots of moneys can I have some?? pwleaseee :(:(
 
Google patent search is good. I tend to use Espacenet, which you can link to from the UK patent office.

There's a lot of useful information at the UK patent office on the whole process of patenting.

If, after your initial searches to see if your idea is new, you're going to attempt to patent the idea, it would be a very good idea to get a patent attorney involved - they know precisely the sort of information required to go into the application process. Expensive, but then so is getting it wrong!
 
Fantastic resources, thanks guys.

I can't see anything like it, which is good, but I might just be over thinking it. It's simple, so I'd think it exists in some form? I'll have to contact someone, and do more research I think.

A colleagues dad is a patent lawyer, so might drop him a message and see if he can help/rationalise my idea!
 
You need to get a patent lawyer on board, very expensive but worth it, you need very specific legal text to defend your work. And really a patent is only as useful as the amount of money you can throw at your legal department to defend patents.

You also need to check no prior art exists, just because no one has patented it doesn't means no one didn't invent it before, even if they didn't take it to commercial productivity you would still not be eligible for the patent.
 
D.P. said:
You need to get a patent lawyer on board, very expensive but worth it, you need very specific legal text to defend your work. And really a patent is only as useful as the amount of money you can throw at your legal department to defend patents.

You also need to check no prior art exists, just because no one has patented it doesn't means no one didn't invent it before, even if they didn't take it to commercial productivity you would still not be eligible for the patent.
Click to expand...

Really good advice here tbh.

I came up with an idea a few years ago and looked in to patenting it. I decided until I could afford to prototype test it etc myself it's really not worth trying to go for a patent as, as DP says, the bigger bank book wins.
 
Not least before your product ever hits the stores and your patent awarded there will be cheap Chinese knock offs hitting eBay, no joke. Friends company sells miniature dros for aerial photography and there are Chinese knock offs that look identical, even including some of the design mistakes of the early prototypes. As soon as you send anything off to chine to get manufactured they seem to set up a exhibition and get all their friends to reverse engineer it and make it cheaper, fairly easy when they have all the cad files for the manufacturer but some how they even figure out the firmware via reverse compilation.

Plus your patent won't do anything in china and won't sto the Chinese knock offs being sold on eBay to Europe.
 
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