Patenting process

trap4

Hi All,

I'm looking for advice on patenting.

I have come up with what I believe is an excellent portable/collapsable keyboard design for mobile phones and PDAs.

The thing is I don't have a mechanical engineering or similar background, wouldn't know where to start in creating a mock up of the device and don't have a clue about the legal aspects of securing a patent. So my question are -

1) What are the requirements for approaching the patent office in requesting a patent of this type. Do I have to have a physical mockup? Or just CAD drawings? Of what quality must these drawings be? Would I have to specify materials and inner workings or just the overall idea? What detail is necessary?

2) If anthing more than a rough sketch is necessary, I'm sure I will have to solicit the services of professionals. But how can I protect my idea while getting these professionals to produce drawings, mockups, etc?!?! I can't see anyway around this - I have to tell them the 'gist' of it so they can come up with the goods, and what then is to stop them of claiming the idea as their own?

3) Who do I approach? Lawyers? The 'Patent Office' (is there such a thing?).

4) What geographical/jurisdictional coverage do patents have? Can I secure a European wide one? What are the costs?

5) How different does my design have to be to warrant a patent? I'm aware of several different collapsable/foldable keyboards already on the market but believe mine is sufficiently different as to be "non-obvious". How can one quantify this? Obviously there are no engineering secrets required to copy my design, so how can I prove that it was unlikely to be 'discovered' by anyone else?

6) Assuming I can secure the patent, who would I then approach with my idea? The OEM manufacturers? Or are there agencies?

7) In this day and age, is it possible to setup a virtual manufacturing operation, whereby my company could outsource ALL aspects of the manufacture of this keyboard


Any help, advice and resource pointers are greatly appreicated. Specifically, if you can point me towards website (Irish if possible) with more information I'd be very much obliged.

Thanks in advance.

dahamsta

I'm looking for advice on patenting.

[DISCLAIMER: IANAL. Neither am I an inventor, a manufacturer, or anything else relating directly to your query. I'm interested in IP (Intellectual Property) issues though, and found out a few bits and pieces on my travels. I hope they're useful.]

1) Do I have to have a physical mockup? Or just CAD drawings? Of what quality must these drawings be? Would I have to specify materials and inner workings or just the overall idea? What detail is necessary?

I don't believe you need a mockup, as far as I'm aware a drawing will suffice, of reasonable enough quality to demonstrate the invention. You will need to specify as much detail as possible if you wish your patent to stand up to challenge. On that subject, you should also research your invention, to make sure there's no prior art. Your competition will.

2) If anthing more than a rough sketch is necessary, I'm sure I will have to solicit the services of professionals. But how can I protect my idea while getting these professionals to produce drawings, mockups, etc?!?! I can't see anyway around this - I have to tell them the 'gist' of it so they can come up with the goods, and what then is to stop them of claiming the idea as their own?

I don't know, but I presume you will require a contract of some sort, preferably professionally drafted.

3) Who do I approach? Lawyers? The 'Patent Office' (is there such a thing?).

Lawayers cost money, and lots of it, but it's probably the safest route. Find a good firm that deals with business issues, in particular IP. The only firm I personally know of is Kilroy's, which I reached from insightful postings by Deirdre Kilroy on the Enterprise Ireland eBusiness discussion forum. This is not a recommendation however, there are plenty more firms out there. Have a poke around the Google directory to get you started.

Yes, there is an Irish Patent Office, and a European Patent Office.

4) What geographical/jurisdictional coverage do patents have? Can I secure a European wide one? What are the costs?

I'm unsure. I know you can register European patents to cover the whole of Europe, but I don't know if you can register "Ireland Only" patents. That would be illogical for most patents anyway, IMHO. With regard to geographical coverage, there is also an international agreement called the "Berne Convention", which basically - very basically - says that IP is recognised worldwide by signatories. I'm on /very/ shaky ground here though. I have no idea of the costs, bar "expensive".

5) How different does my design have to be to warrant a patent? I'm aware of several different collapsable/foldable keyboards already on the market but believe mine is sufficiently different as to be "non-obvious". How can one quantify this? Obviously there are no engineering secrets required to copy my design, so how can I prove that it was unlikely to be 'discovered' by anyone else?

No good to you here I'm afraid.

6) Assuming I can secure the patent, who would I then approach with my idea? The OEM manufacturers? Or are there agencies?

There are agencies and companies set up for this very purpose, but BEWARE! There are a lot of shysters out there in the inventions business. For example, the one that used to be advertised on TV has an awful reputation. As far as I know, that's why they don't advertise on TV any more...

7) In this day and age, is it possible to setup a virtual manufacturing operation, whereby my company could outsource ALL aspects of the manufacture of this keyboard

Yes. In fact you can pretty much outsource everything these days - design, manufacture, distribution, support. I would imagine that the strength of this relies on your setup, both legal and logical. You need to think out the process carefully, and you need iron-clad contracts to make sure everything ties together. Once again, this probably relies on an excellent solicitor.

Any help, advice and resource pointers are greatly appreicated. Specifically, if you can point me towards website (Irish if possible) with more information I'd be very much obliged.

Legal websites are two a penny, but the quality of relevant Irish information leaves a lot to be desired. There's an awful lot of U.S. websites out there though, and a lot of the information applies here too. However, their Patents Office is quite radically different, and is much maligned for it's bad decisions. Use the information as very general guidelines only. Ultimately, if you're serious about this, you need to consult a solicitor. If your idea is good enough, you could always chance your arm and ask them to work pro-bono. It never hurts to ask.

And always remember - Google Is Your Friend.

adam

trap4

Thanks indeed for taking so much time to give a very useful reply!

dahamsta

No problem. Just don't come crying to me if any of it comes back and bites you in the ass...

adam