ive googled it but can not find a "straight answers."

can anyone sum up the process of applying for and getting a patent?

and how much do they cost?

http://preview.tinyurl.com/2hcr8l has some information. This is something I've really been meaning to look into. One of my goals in life is to get a patent. And hopefully make some money on it.

first get on www.freepatentsonline.com and go under 'patent search' and thoroughly go through it. i jot possible ideas down a lot just throughout the day, and i put some of em in there and was suprised at how nearly-identical some patents were to my ideas. use the 'abstract' search field mostly. after that, if nothing like em shows up, make an appointment with a patent lawyer and get ur application done right so you don't waste a few grand by screwing up formalities.

a patent lawyer's gonna cost you a few grand anyways, isn't it?

their fees go from 125 per hr and up (probly into the thousands). i bet you could meet w/one for just 30 minutes and get some good info from it... stuff thatd be valueable whether or not you decide to go ahead and patent this specific item. i would think those guys are pretty open to meeting with a new client briefly... its not like sitting and chatting about stuff they know like the back of their hand is stressful and tedious like doing a stack of paperwork, and the next guy to come in wanting info could have something huge.

that link has some interesting bits of information sentinel. i did not know a PPA was that cheap. mention of the cost of the regular patent application seems to be missing though. heh kinda an important part to cover. one site i flipped through when surfing the web about this stuff said you'll have spent about $4500 from the start to finish of getting a patent. i dont care who ya are... that's a sobering and intimidating amount of money to throw down on something that, statistically, is very unlikely to turn a profit /=

my idea is to patent something, then sell the patent to a company. cant think of anything off the top of my head but hear is an example:


create and patent unique safety features for a car, then sell it to an auto manufacturer.

that is just the concept though, but i think youll get the idea.

Yeah that's generally what people do nowadays. There aren't very many "inventors" anymore; just "researchers" in corporate R&D departments. Anyone who invents something now sells it to a company; it's extremely rare for an inventor to try to market and sell their own inventions.