Welcome to the world of patents!

If this is your first experience of patents, allow us to guide you through.

Whether you're a company or an individual inventor, these are some of the issues you'll need to consider when you embark on obtaining your first patent.  Please give them some thought before you contact us; the answers will help us to give you the best possible advice.

Why do you want a patent?

This is the most fundamental question of all.

A patent doesn't provide a guaranteed source of income.  It's up to the owner to exploit it effectively and to enforce it against infringers.

Before you start, consider these key questions.  Is a patent the right form of protection for your idea, bearing in mind the market you're operating in?  How do you plan to make money out of your patent – will you license others to use your invention for a royalty, will you sell the patent to someone else, will you use it to protect you whilst you sell the invention yourself?

Also – is now the right time to incur the costs of patenting?  Can you wait until your invention is better developed, or until you know how you're going to manufacture and market it, or until you've found someone else to help fund the patent application?

Is your invention patentable?

Do you know if your invention is new?  What's the closest similar idea you're aware of, and how does yours differ from that?  What advantages does your invention give?  What problems does it solve?  The answers to these questions will help us to assess whether your invention is "novel" and "inventive", which it has to be in order to get a patent.

Have you done any searching to find out if the same or a similar idea has already been published?  Have you checked through trade journals and competitors' product literature?  Have you looked on the web?  We can organise searches for you but often you can make a lot of progress yourself, at lower cost.

Have you kept it confidential?

It's crucial that you keep your idea confidential until you've filed a patent application for it.  Otherwise, the resulting patent will be invalid.  So, you shouldn't talk to anyone else about your ideas, or show them a prototype, unless in confidence.  Nor should you try to market your invention or tell the press about it.  If you need to discuss your idea with someone in confidence, for instance if you're hoping they'll help you manufacture or market it, we recommend you use a written confidentiality agreement – see the panel on the right.

It's fine to talk to a chartered patent attorney about your invention, to get an initial idea about whether it's patentable and how to set about obtaining protection for it.  A chartered patent attorney's professional code of conduct requires him to keep such things confidential, even if you don't go on to become his client.

How does your invention work?

Your patent application will have to include a description of your invention, preferably with drawings to make it clearer.  It needs to give instructions which are clear and complete enough for somebody else to be able to make the invention work.  Its content is crucial.

When you visit us to explain your invention, please bring drawings if you can.  Simple hand sketches are perfectly good enough.  If you can bring a prototype, that too will help, as will a brief description sent before we meet.

How can it be modified?

You will want to use your patent not just against people who copy you exactly but also against those who make minor changes to your basic idea.  So, try to think of all the ways that your invention might be modified but still work.  Are any parts of it optional rather than essential?  Could any part be replaced by a different part which performs the same function?  Could your invention be used in other fields apart from yours?  Put yourself in your competitors' shoes and ask what you would try to do to avoid your patent.  The answers to these questions will help us to get you the best possible scope of protection.

Who owns the invention?

Be sure to get this right.  Do you own your invention or was it produced for somebody else?  (In some cases it may belong to your employer, even if you did the work at home – we can advise on this.)  Who do you want to own the patent – you as an individual, or a company perhaps?  Think about who will be paying for the patent application and who will need to exploit the eventual patent.  It's possible to have two or more co-owners if you want.

If you're a company, was the invention made by one or more employees?  Or by an external consultant?  Was it made in collaboration with another company?  And if you're part of a group of companies, which member of the group owns the right to a patent?  - Again we can advise on all these issues.

Are you free to use it?

Even if you get your own patent for an invention, you can still infringe someone else's patent by using it.  We can advise on this type of situation.  Let us know if you're aware of any competitors' patents in your field – they should be checked out before you start exploiting your invention.  We can also organise searches for patent infringement risks.

Where do you want to protect it?

Which countries do you plan to use your invention in?  Where do your competitors operate?  Each country needs its own patent, especially those where you'll have licensees or distributors, or where you know of a major competitor.  Also will your product differ between countries?  And will you exploit it differently in some areas?

We can advise on the best strategy for protecting an invention internationally.  Generally, we would start with a UK patent application and up to 12 months later we could apply for protection in the other countries of interest.

Obtaining patents in several countries will cost a lot more than just in the UK.  Think about how you'll fund this.  Note too that infringement risks should be checked out for each country you plan to work in.

When you meet us...

…Anything you tell us will be kept strictly confidential, even if you don't continue with a patent application or you go to another patent attorney instead.

For new clients we usually ask for payment in advance for at least part of our charges.  You can read our business terms here – please check you're happy with them before you visit.