Patent: Invention: I did invent a new kind of soccer ball. Does anyone know what do I need to do next?
I need web sites for this.
What else should I do?
Any other advise?
How is the procedure to register or/and patent your idea?
Thank you very much!
Answer:
Hi
In order to patent an invention, you need to file a patent application with the patent office of each country in which you would like legal protection for your invention, usually starting with the country in which you live. I would advise you to talk to a patent attorney in your own country who will be able to assess whether your invention is patentable, advise you on how to proceed, and write a patent application for you (the crafting of patent applications is a skill in itself, as they are a form of legal document). You may be able to get a free initial consultation with a patent attorney, but the fees they charge for actually handling your patent applications are fairly high.
Once a patent application has been written and filed at a patent office, it will be examined for criteria such as novelty (not been done before) and inventiveness (not a mere trivial modification of that which has been done before). If it meets these criteria then a patent will be granted.
Do not be taken in by online companies that offer to handle your invention on your behalf if you send it to them and pay them money.
Do not tell anyone about your invention until a patent application has been filed, because to do so may render your patent invalid.
Hope that helps.
Good luck!
Most "help" on the web are scams.
They want cash up front, and more, and more later.
You did not "invent a new soccer ball".
This would fall into the category of an "improvement" of an existing product.
You need a patent attorney's advice.
I don't know that the existing ball is patented or can be. Patent research is needed for this. It's a long drawn out process and usually is performed in several countries.
Been through the process, with an attorney.
You should first do a search on the uspto.gov website to see if your invention has already been done. First search issued patents and then search published applications. Published applications have not issued but are pending.
You can have a patent attorney do this for you, but it is cheaper to do the search on your own.
Once your satisfied that you have something truly original and novel, you should probably find a patent attorney to draft the application for you.
Since your not a company, you will have small entity status and the filing fees will be half. The patent attorney will charge you for the filing fees and the hours of labor it took him to draft the application. Labor depends on the length of the application. So if it took him 20 hours to write the application, at 200 dollars an hours, you would have to pay 4k plus the filing fees which will be at least $500.
After the patent attorney files your application, a back and forth between your attorney and the patent office will ensue. As an example, the patent office may reject your invention in light of an earlier filed similar patent. Your attorney will then file a response arguing that the cited patent is not similar and that the rejection should be removed. For each response, your patent attorney will expect a fee based on the hours it took him to draft the response.
I only mention this because you must realize that this back and forth can go on for many years, and you will be required to pay for each response. In theory, the better the patent attorney you choose, the quicker the patent will issue.
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