Protect Yourself

Patenting anything novel and creative is just insurance. It stops the bad guys from taking over what you've done.

(Here's one of our ideas - to do with pointing devices - let us know what you think.)

And even in software - you don't have to use a patent as a bad guy, but it stops the bad guys from doing bad to you.

And it's easy to do (and we'll happily guide you through this):

1. you work out what's the central, core piece of originality in your work
2. you search around for any previous mention of this idea, eg on the web and in patent databases
3. you write a little patent, which just lists (1) "Claims" - your core idea, and the various aspects and variants that spring from it - and (2) a "Description", that describes the area your invention is in, the other stuff that's around, and the invention itself, in plain English
4. you run it past one of the small band of independent patent lawyers who are happy to work this way, the good guys like Richard Doble or Lucy Wojcik, instead of the large firms that charge larger clients incredibly large amounts to do it all themselves. Richard or Lucy will sort out the legal language and advise on any changes
5. then you file it (it's simple) at the UK patent office.

We've helped several small firms do this. If you've done something seriously novel, you can buy years of insurance and ownership via a patent, for typically £500-£3000.