Does anyone know where to start looking to get a patent for an idea I have?

Answer 1

the patent office is in Holborn, London,
or use a local patent agent

Answer 2

Most ideas are not really patentable. It might be best just to say it has a patent pending on it, nobody will check. This is actually what you do when you make original music. You just write copyright on the CD with the year in which you made it. It does not stop anyone copying the idea or the music.

If it is a genuinely unique innovative idea, then you will have to pay the government before you will get a patent. A waste of money in my experience. I would take the idea abroad if I were you. Malaysia seems like a good place!

Note that having a patent, copyright, or trade mark does not protect your rights. It does not enforce your rights. It does not apply worldwide, and it is not an excuse to create an artifiial monopoly.

If you have spent some serious money researching and developing a product, then it is reasonable to expect a limited period of monopolistic profits as a payoff (otherwise people would not develop anything).

If you just have an idea, which is a different way of using existing technology then it is not really patentable (in my opinion).

Answer 3

Try the patent office - they have a website which should get you started. Good luck.

Answer 4

READ CAREFULLY......
MAKE A SOFT COPY OF YOUR IDEA AND PRINT IT THEN GO TO A LAWYER AND ASK HIM TO SIGN WITH DATE AND TIME AND REGISTER IT.IN RECORD THAT HE SAW IT .KEEP IT IN A SAFE PLASE.
THEN VISIT PERSONALY TO THE PATENT OFFICE ANT SUBMIT IT BY YOUR SELF SO THAT NOONE CAN CLAIM IT BY HIS NAME.
IF IT HAPPENDS THEN THE LAWYER WILL HELP YOU OUT TO CONFIRM THE TIME AND DATE ETC...NORMALY WHEN YOU SEND THE IDEA TO PATENT OFFICE THE MIDDLEMAN THERE PRINT IT IN THERE MAGAZINES AND GET CASH.......

Answer 5

This may be a good place to start:
http://www.patent.gov.uk/

Good luck.