A few years ago, I was in a pretty serious car accident. During the aftermath, I became really familiar with a lot of different types of lawyers. I worked with personal injury lawyers, insurance lawyers, and many others. Perhaps the most important, though, was the estate planning lawyer. I was really young, and neither my wife or I had thought about starting a will. But the accident kind of scared us into it. What would happen if one of us were to die? Even when still in the hospital, I was working with the lawyer to draw up a will. Now, I have some peace and security about what the future will be like if something should happen to me. And I have a lot of experience working with various types of lawyers! The accident was kind of a blessing in disguise in that way.
If you have come up with an idea that is so exciting and revolutionary that you think you want to secure a patent, you are probably pretty excited about releasing this product or service to the general public. As of right now, your main concern might be launching your business, not worrying about the whole patenting process. However, even though you may prefer to release your product or service now and worry about a patent later, you might want to do things the other way around. These are two reasons why:
You Don't Want Anyone to Swoop in and Steal Your Idea.
You might be excited and want to tell everyone you know about your product or service. This is especially true if you are working on releasing it to the general public. However, one thing that you should be aware of is that someone else can swoop in, steal your idea, and apply for a patent, even though you came up with the product or service first. If you wait too long, you might find that someone else has already applied for a patent for your idea. This is why it's smart to work with a patent attorney as soon as possible after developing your idea so you can make sure that no one else beats you to it. Otherwise, you might find yourself heartbroken if you realize that someone else has patented the concept that you worked so hard on. You'll be given time to fully work out your idea and release the product or service to the public after you apply for your patent, so there is really no reason to wait.
The Patent Process Can Take a While.
Applying for a patent—and actually having your application approved—is not an instant process. Although you can sometimes expedite the process when you work with a lawyer, you should expect for it to take a while. If you wait until the last minute to fill out your patent application, you might have to wait weeks or months while your product or service sits there ready to be presented. Going ahead and filling out your application now, while you're still working on the development of your idea, helps ensure that you will receive your patent closer to the actual time you want it.
As you can see, there is no reason to wait until your product is released before applying for a patent. Instead, consider talking to a patent attorney from a firm like the Lingbeck Law Office about going ahead and filling out the paperwork now if you want to avoid any problems.
Share8 April 2016
