how to copyright or patent an idea [With Tutorial]

Last updated : Sept 16, 2022

How do I get my idea patented?

1. Step 1 – Verify the Idea is Eligible For a Patent.
2. Step 2 – Keep a Detailed Record of Everything.
3. Step 3 – Make a Prototype.
4. Step 4 – Apply For a Provisional Patent.
5. Step 5 – Hire a Patent Attorney.
6. Step 6 – File Your Patent Application.

How do I protect my idea?

The five essential legal tools for protecting ideas are patents, trademarks, copyrights, trade dress unfair competition laws, and trade secrets. Some of these legal tools can also be used creatively as marketing aids, and often more than one form of protection is available for a single design or innovation.

What are the 3 types of patents?

What kind of patent do you need? There are three types of patents - Utility, Design, and Plant. Utility patents may be granted to anyone who invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, article of manufacture, or compositions of matters, or any new useful improvement thereof.

How much does it cost to patent an idea?

Need Help? A patent attorney will usually charge between $8,000 and $10,000 for a patent application, but the cost can be higher. In most cases, you should budget between $15,000 and $20,000 to complete the patenting process for your invention.

Can someone steal my idea if I have a patent pending?

What Is Patent Pending Infringement? As soon as you file a patent application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), your invention is "Patent Pending." Once your application is submitted, nobody can steal, sell, or use your invention without your permission.

What things Cannot be patented?

• literary, dramatic, musical or artistic works.
• a way of doing business, playing a game or thinking.
• a method of medical treatment or diagnosis.
• a discovery, scientific theory or mathematical method.
• the way information is presented.
• some computer programs or mobile apps.

Can a manufacturer steal your idea?

Ideas alone are not protected under intellectual property law. There are two primary ways that you would be able to sue the company for stealing your idea. The first is if you did, in fact, reduce the idea to a protectable form before telling the company about it.

How much does a 20 year patent cost?

The full cost of obtaining and maintaining a U.S. patent over 20 years is in the range of $20,000 to $60,000. This sum is influenced by the type of technology being patented; the number of claims and drawings included in the application; the number and nature of rejections from USPTO; filing fees, etc.

How can I patent my idea for free?

There are two ways you can actually patent an invention for free, sort of. If you cannot afford an agent or attorney, look to the Patent Pro Bono Program or the Law School Clinic Certification Program, both provided by the USPTO. The Patent Pro Bono Program pairs registered patent agents or attorneys with inventors.

How long can a patent last?

A U.S. utility patent, explained above, is generally granted for 20 years from the date the patent application is filed; however, periodic fees are required to maintain the enforceability of the patent.

What is poor man's patent?

A poor man's patent is essentially writing out a description of your invention and then mailing that written description to yourself. This postmarked envelope supposedly acts to create the date of your invention as the date this written description was postmarked.

How do you know if an idea is already patented?

Search the USPTO Check out the official website of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and click on the Full Text and Image Database. Search for existing patents, images and patent applications by using words that describe your idea.

Can you sell an idea to a company without a patent?

Yes, you can sell an idea to a company without a patent. However, the company needs to enter into a contract such as a nondisclosure agreement (NDA). Otherwise, they can steal your idea. Unfortunately, many companies will not enter into an NDA.

Who to contact if you have an idea for an invention?

Visit the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) website and investigate any patents on items similar to the one you want to make. If you have questions or want to ensure your invention is legal for you to create and sell, consult an attorney who specializes in patents and IP law.

How do I protect my idea from being stolen?

1. Trade Secrets. Trade secrets are generally the least expensive strategy to keep an idea from being taken.
2. Copyrights. Copyrights are generally the second least expensive strategy to protect a piece of work.
3. Trademarks.
4. Patents.

Can I patent an idea without a prototype?

Many inventors wonder if they need a prototype prior to patenting an invention. The simple answer is “no'. A prototype is not required prior to filing a patent application with the U.S. Patent Office. While prototypes can be valuable in developing your invention, they can also be costly.

What type of ideas can be patented?

Nearly anything can be patented. Machines, medicines, computer programs, articles made by machines, compositions, chemicals, biogenetic materials, and processes, can all be the subject matter for a United States patent.

Which inventions are not patented?

• Laptop and Cell Phone.
• Computer Mouse.
• Emoticon.
• Karaoke Machine.
• Assault Rifle.
• Tetris.
• Matches.
• Antibodies.

Can you patent something that already exists?

Can you patent an existing product? No, you cannot get a patent on an existing product because it does not meet: the novelty requirement and. the inventorship requirement.

Does my company own my ideas?

Typically, employers are entitled to all intellectual property created at/for their business, unless there exists a contract stating otherwise.

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Write a comment

so what are the things that you'd want to protect let's break down the basics of the key elements of a copyright of a trademark of a patent and a trade secret a copyright is most notably for work of authorship it's for a book it's for a movie it's for a written work and just by creating the cop just by creating the written work you have a copyright in it now sometimes you'll see people do things like they'll write a piece of work and then they'll send themselves in the mail sealed because it creates a date stamp on it you can also do that by publishing it online these days you can get a federal registration and a copyright it's typically about $35 per each work and it doesn't give you any more rights to the work that you created but what it does do is if someone were to infringe on your copyright you might be able to claim more damages and get more money for it but a copyright is for a written piece of work a trademark is for a logo a designation or short phrase and so for example docstoc is a trademark and you'll see a lot of times that people put TM next to it that means that you're putting in your assertion that you want to have a trademark in that logo mark or short phrase when you see that are with a circle you've all seen that next to something that means that it's a federally registered trademark and so coca-cola is a trademark so you're going to get a trademark in your name you're going to get a trademark in your logo you can trademark short phrases like Showtime Showtime was trademarked actually there's a basketball player now the number one pick that came out of the draft he's trying to trademark his uni brow so you trademark a logo a mark then you have a patent the patent is for an invention and and copyrights and trademarks are pretty straightforward you can just simply do a google search and they'll walk it the process how you do it you can also go to sites like LegalZoom which is a partner bars which I'm a big fan of patents you will typically have to work with a business attorney on I think sometimes entrepreneurs get too worried about getting patents a patent is not going to make your business successful if your business becomes wildly successful it may give you some legal defensibility but your first objective unless it's something highly specialized highly technical very specific if we were starting a business right now that had a completely new way to refine water and we invented something that could take salt water and take out the salt and then it becomes drinkable water which I think people are working on this very moment yeah let's go get that patented that's pretty important if we genuinely invent a process that nobody else has we should have a patent on that and my piece of advice would be go do that number one if you're working on building a website my advice is that 999 times out of a thousand especially as first-time entrepreneurs do not worry about getting a patent it will likely be something that can't be patented that if it is isn't going to make a difference but more importantly shouldn't be the first focus of your business you can work with a business attorney on it but your goal should be on getting customers and getting going and your first thought especially for the vast majority of business that we're going to create isn't that I need to get patents on the businesses and also a lot of times people over value what a patent will do someone will come into my office and they'll say well I've got all these patents on this business I'd say that's great how many customers you have or customers I don't have any of those but I've got these patents I would rather take happy engaged customers with a product that I know that they want above patents in my particular case now again if we created the next amazing scientific breakthrough I'd sure want to have the patents on those because those are going to be really important they're going to make sure that it's valuable but for the vast majority situations and we're starting businesses that shouldn't be our number one concern and then finally a trade secret is something like a process that you want to keep secret so for example coca-cola has a trade secret in their formula right they don't want anybody finding out the formula of how they make coca-cola and a lot of the cases trade secrets or confidential information won't be as important for us the basics that you really want to know about is a copyright is for a written piece of work a trademark is for a logo a patent is for an invention or for a process and it's a good thing to get a trademark on your logo right away the big thing that you want to note for the trademarks is that especially when you're looking to name your business you want to do a search to make sure you're not infringing on somebody else's trademark and this is really important and a very simple way to do it is there's a great site called trademark iya where when you come up with the name of your business you can go there and they'll tell you what's there but also it is worth working with a business attorney on this because the the rule for a trademark is is it sufficiently confusing mark in a similar space so there may be people have actually trademarked you know very generic words you know square I'm sure has a trademark on its square card reader but people are using the word square for all sorts of things if somebody else came along and wanted to start a business that was for a credit card reader on your phone called squared then I'm pretty sure they'd be infringing on squares trademark so the rule for trademarks is sufficiently confusing mark and in a similar space and it is important that for you know you're going to invest a lot of time into your business name into the collateral into the website address and you do want to make sure that that mark is not infringing upon somebody else's that to me is one of the key most important things that you can do as far as protecting your IP right up front because I'll tell you the hassle of later on in the business six months a year two years having to potentially go to change your name and that may not be the biggest deal if it's a corner stop in a corner store which in that case may even sucks though or if it's a service based business just of yourself but if you're online and your website URL is based upon the name of your business you're really not going to want to have to change that later on

Thanks for your comment Sylvester Lemons, have a nice day.
- Zona Cicciarelli, Staff Member

how to copyright an idea hello and welcome to videojug enacted by the US Congress in 1790 copyright gives you the exclusive right to reproduce sell and distribute your original material step 1 the bad news you can't copyright an idea until it's put into a tangible form of expression this means more than just holding it in your hands this can be paper CD DVD or similar step 2 what's protected you can copyright a number of different kinds of work literary works including computer programs musical works dramatic works pantomimes and choreographic works pictorial graphic and sculptural works motion pictures and other audio-visual works sound recordings and architectural works step 3 what's not protected there are a number of items you can't copyright they include names titles short phrases and slogans familiar symbols are designed lists of items as opposed to explanations and work consisting of common property like the standard calendar step for securing a copyright here's some good news when a work is created a copyright of it is automatically secured if you like you can add the copyright symbol to your work step 5 make it known by registering your copyright you establish a public record of your copyright which is necessary to secure before you can file an infringement suit to register your copyright visit the Library of Congress's website WWE right gov and fill out the appropriate form related to the type of work you intend to register currently there is a 45 dollar fee for a copyright make your check payable to the register of copyrights and place your application fee and a copy of your work into an envelope and mail it to the Library of Congress Copyright Office 101 Independence Avenue Southeast Washington DC to zero 559 step six up to date you're registered copyright will remain valid 70 years after your death if that's not long enough you can fill out form re to renew your copyright done you

Thanks linkgotesa your participation is very much appreciated
- Zona Cicciarelli

About the author

Zona Cicciarelli

I've studied sociomusicology at Moore College of Art and Design in Philadelphia and I am an expert in symbolic interactionism. I usually feel cynical. My previous job was home appliance installer I held this position for 20 years, I love talking about macrame and paludarium. Huge fan of Miles OG��Brien I practice disability sport and collect vintage cars.