NON-Patent protection for your invention. IF YOU HAD AN INVENTION THAT WAS MORE OF A TRADE SECRET THAN A?

Question

patentable device, how would go about protecting your idea and still be able to approach a big corporation and not have your idea stolen right from under you? A patent is only good for 17 years, and THEN everyone can see your idea and steal it from you ANYWAY - so I need a big corporation to buy it from me, but I'm afraid they might just take it and leave me out in the cold, or in an extended legal battle that I can't win.

*IF I patent this idea, then people will have access to it as it is public knowledge AND it will be difficult to PROVE someone has taken it - it is not something that would be easily detectable. Once someone knows how to do it, there will be no easy way to prove they're doing it without invasively ripping apart their equipment - and there would be little justification for doing so.

Answer 1

You can do a "poor-man's patent". Basically you write your complete idea down on paper, seal it up in an envelope and send it by registered mail to yourself. When you receive it, it will have an official postal date stamp on it, which will confirm the date of your idea. Now, here's the critical step - do NOT open the envelope! This is the only way that you can verify the integrity of the contents!

What you now have in your possession is a official date-confirmed copy of your idea. If someone tries to steal your idea, you have authorized proof of when you came up with your idea. Now this might not be enough to save you in court, but it will definitely give you some credibility and might be enough to make people think twice about stealing your idea.

This is about all the protection that you can get on your idea without involving lawyers or patents.

Answer 2

I would agree with the first response below. If you want to avoid a patent then doing what was suggested at least gives you some coverage/protection.

But if it is truly patentable that still might be the best approach. Seventeen years is a long time (hopefully you improve upon the idea in that time) so I wouldn't avoid a patent because someone might take it 17 years from now. Essentially, what you're saying is I will avoid 17 years of protection because something might happen 17 years from now. Not sure I understand that logic.

By the time 17 years passes you might not care if the world can steal it. That happens all the time - you need to keep innovating as there is no guarantee of eternal protection. If someone does discover your trade secret (and they will if what you are selling is any good) then you are really out of luck.

Answer 3

You genuinely elect an legal professional to check this style of settlement and supply help to discover issues which you will upload to it and issues which you will attempt to barter out or a minimum of slender, besides as different subject concerns with regard to the indemnification and non-compete aspects. in case you suspect your invention is nicely worth patenting, then you certainly could desire to intend to take a place a existence like quantity in legal costs to be sure your patents could actually be efficient if and while they are issued. case in point, does no longer that's severe high quality to talk a clause that particularly demands the "comparing producer" to place correct records into "escrow" for some era, which skill they won't be able to secretly "advance" their very own "progression" records and declare they already knew it earlier your disclosure? In different words, you have a time-stamped image of their latest documentation, in case there's a destiny contest over who invented what. further, you ought to ask them to outline that their "evidence" of past understanding could desire to be in a undeniable form, inclusive of notarized lab notebooks signed and dated in suited order.