new ideas for welding

Send me the idea, along with $50,000 in small unmarked bills. Then sit tight and wait to hear from me......................

Steve

Keith-

Unfortunately there isn't a quick answer to this question, but I'll try to give you a little input.

The only really solid protection is a patent. These days you can write a patent yourself using guidebooks from companies like

, but this can be pretty time consuming unless your idea is very simple. You can hire someone to write a patent for you and pay between $5K and $500,000.K in the process depending on the idea and how broad you want your protection to be and how well you want the patent written.

Keep in mind all the patent buys you is a better position to sue someone if they try to steal you idea, so to enforce a patent you need $ or someone willing to put it up for you in exchange for some of the proceeds of the lawsuit.

The less costly way is to use a non-disclosure agreement. Search around the web and you can find non-disclosure forms for free or pretty cheap. A non-disclosure agreement basically states the company that saw your idea will keep it confidential and can't use it without your permission. Unfortunately, many companies these days have a flat policy that they won't sign non-disclosure agreements, but the only way to find this out is to approach the company, tell them you have an idea that you would like to show them, ask them to sign a non-disclosure agreement and see what they say.

If they won't sign an non-disclosure and you don't want to get a patent, you have to decide if you feel comfortable with the company just "winging it" and showing them the idea on good faith. I've done it all three ways, and depending on the situation all the methods can be successful.

Good luck-

Paul Titchener

You can do a poor man patent. Just put all the info you have and drawings together or pic of the prototype and mail it registered to your self but do not open it.. If you find you Idea marketed you have a chance with a sealed envelope dated back proving it was your idea. It will stand up in court when you present it to a judge.

I don't advise writing your own patent. I'm an engineer, and have worked at a small company where the CEO knew he could write a better patent than the ones those lawyers write, you can hardly understand those. He found a lawyer who would let him do that, and we ended up with a set of patents that didn't cover the ideas. Remember, a patent is a legal document, not an engineering document. You need a good lawyer to write a good patent. It is amazingly easy to get around a poorly written patent.

I think a non-disclosure agreement is a good approach (get a lawyer). The only thing I would add is keep notes, date everything and file all your copies away. It could be years later that you need the documents. I think you need text on each page indicating the idea is yours and confidential.

I would ask a lawyer about mailing all your details to yourself. This sounds awfully easy to fake (not that you would, but a judge might not buy it).

Steve Smith

Actually old age brain fade caused me to forget to mention one other important avenue thats available to you.

There is a new patent application now available called a "provisional patent". This is great for small (ie poor) inventors. To get a provisional patent, you basically document your idea using drawings, diagrams, pictures, a description and anything else you can put on paper to fully describe what your idea is, but this can be in "real" language, not legalese. You then send this package to the patent office along with some forms and a check (I think $175.) and they keep it on file for one year. During this year you can show the idea to others with protection and you can even make the statement that you have applied for a patent for the idea ("patent pending"). Before the end of that year, if you intend to complete the patent application you need to have a formal patent completed and submit it, but you will get the filing date that you sent the provisional patent in.

This gives you a year before you spend any big bucks to shop the idea around and find out whether its worth the time and money to complete a formal patent application. Again,

has some pretty good materials on how to complete and file a provisional patent. For simple ideas I've done a provisional application from start to finish in one day.

Forget about the "mail it back to yourself" method, that's basically an urban legend that has no reality to it.

Good luck-

Paul Titchener

Others have mentioned patents, etc. It might be worth your while to do a preliminary patent search to see if anyone else has come up with the same idea but hasn't made it to the market place yet. The USPTO (Patent Office) has a searchable patent database online. A thorough search can be tricky and time-consuming, which is one reason why the patent process can be expensive. But it might be worth at least a cursory look for any obvious patents that cover your idea before investing a lot of time trying to market it.

Bert

"muffster" wrote:

Talk to a patent lawyer before you tell anyone else anything about your process (and be careful of those cheap "we'll patent your idea without the expense of a lawyer" companies). Good luck.

Do not use this mail method if you want patent protection. I was doing some research on obtaining patents and found some sources that specifically mentioned the above ideaan how it's false. It's "Urban Legend". Patent protection belongs to whoever patents the idea first, not who thinks of it first.

True, unless you happen to be talking about the US. In many countries (including most of the EU, I believe), patent laws are based on the First-to-File doctrine; U.S. patent laws, on the other hand, are based on the First-to-Conceive doctrine. If you can prove that you conceived of a patented idea before the patent holder conceived of it, you can have the patent (or at least the relevant portions of it) overturned.