DIY Patent application in the UK…

With some trepidation I opened a letter from the UK Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO) yesterday. I say trepidation because the last two letters I received from them requested mind bendingly difficult requests for re-wording of my patent claims (the sentences that ‘claim’ novelty etc).

But this letter felt different, it was thinner and had a stiff cardboard in it. Oh oh, I thought, cardboard can mean only one thing…….a certificate of some kind and surely they don’t issue them for rejections!

The letter announced, without preamble or mention of our to’ing and fro’ing of letters over the past three years, that I had indeed been granted a patent for a little idea I had for a tool. Champagne? I don’t mind if I do! (see, this project is losing money already!)

Of course statistics say that a patent literally isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on because about 97% of patents never make any money. I was forewarned about this hence deciding to go it alone and apply without a patent attorney etc.

Patent applications are like buying houses, everyone tells you that you ‘must‘ hire all manner of professionals, otherwise you’ll end up with endless grief. Sure if you have ideas for the next new super-fuel then getting some advice is sensible; but my ideas for a simple tool were I thought, manageable. Oh, and I didn’t want to spend thousands on what might just be a nice frame on the wall. For me it was a mental exercise, I thought it would be amusing to be able to call myself an inventor!

It really wasn’t that difficult. All the information is available online to read and of course everything has to be ‘translated’ into the herein and thereafter language so beloved by ‘the professions’.

So I read all the info about the process of applying (considerable!) and filled in the forms. Then I paid a nice Italian artist I found on Elance.com $20 to draw me some pretty illustrations of my idea (thanks Ivan!). All in all it took about three and a half years (largely made up of inaction between stages), plus a couple of hundred pounds or so in fees.

Having the initial idea is the ‘easiest’ part though, most of us see dumb stuff all the time (where you say, ‘I could have done a better job than that!’). The patent application is a clear step by step process that just requires quite a bit of reading followed by a few periods of intense concentration in quiet conditions to really understand the heavy prose and what they are asking for on the form. Following plenty of examples allows you to craft your own ‘claims’ for novelty.

I had to re-work my claims a couple of times (quite normal apparently) which does add a few months to the job, but I found the guys at the patent office incredibly helpful, often giving me advice probably outside their remit. Most of it is quite forgiving too, “Missed a deadline? No problem; just send us a letter and we’ll extend it for you”. Like most things in life if you treat it as a “them and us” situation you’ll likely get into trouble, but if you go cap in hand, politely asking for help…you’ll probably get it!

So, not an impossible task costing tens of thousands after all then…

Now I need to re-read one of the books that inspired me to go down this road, Stephen Keys great book ‘One Simple Idea‘ and get my product licencing head on. Now where’s that URL for Stanley Tools online idea submissions 🙂

Happy New Year and wishing you an exiting 2013!