Jigantus.com

When I started this process, I didn’t really realize that Intellectual Property IP was a critical issue. I mean, I understood what it was, but I suppose I underestimated it’s long term impact. The mentor program we attended helped me realize that having IP is essential for raising money or even just to have for your future business.

For some reason, VC web sites do not talk a lot about IP, but they want it when they invest.

Getting IP is not easy. There are so many patents out there, and when you think you’ve got a great idea, someone out there could have the same, and perhaps years ahead of you!

But if you can get it, it means your business is protected for up to 20 years. Anyone who wants to compete with you using the same technology, has to pay you royalties, usually around 5-7% depending on how much IP of yours they use.

It can help secure your marketplace and be a big stick you can wave at your competitors. In a recent example I read, iphone has the patent on a “double touch” of the pad, which is now deterring Google Android from offering the same feature.

So conduct a patent search on your own. You will eventually have to do it professionally, but if you can eliminate an idea based on a preliminary search, you might save yourself a few bucks. Looking at other people’s patents may also help your creative juices.

Google offers a free tool http://www.google.com/advanced_patent_search.

If all looks good, or you have questions, I would highly recommend you to consult a patent lawyer in your area. Go meet with them, tell them about your idea, and they can tell you if it can be patented, the next step would be to get a search and opinion from them. Fees can range between $1300 to $2000 for this process. You can also consider going to a patent search agent on your own to save a few bucks, but you risk missing something and might just need to redo it if you decide to move forward so getting a lawyer is well worth it.

If you come up with that killer idea, it could help feed your family for life.

Once you have your idea, you can file for the patent. A lawyer will explain all the guidelines as far as time, rights in other countries etc. (I am not a lawyer). Patents can take years.

Even if you get back iffy results from the initial search, don’t give up. Find a way to make it work. The initial search might just be the beginning to make your creative juices flow.

In my case, things are looking good, and we are filing. Once this is secured, we will start building the product for launch. I’ll keep you advised on this blog as things progress.

Not only have I found that the idea you have has to be unique, parts of it cannot be covered by other patents, which makes it really hard.