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[piotrek255]

I have an idea for a website providing certain services, i checked and no other website or company is offering such services so i though i will give myself a chance , invest in this idea and make it happen. the question is:

if i have a original idea, and i made it happen by making a website which after few days would have very few customers (this would not be a online store), can i patent this idea so that some other big company would not steal this idea and made their own(bigger) version of the same website with flashy commercials all over the internet? if so, where should i go to patent it?


with such patent i could sell the working website to some bigger company who would see potential in the idea, or i would invest more in it slowly without worrying about being pushed back by some rich companies.

thanks in advance for any help on this subject

[JimIvey]

That's exactly what patents exist for -- clever idea that would otherwise die in secrecy unless the inventor of the clever idea could have some assurance that others wouldn't exploit the idea immediately upon disclosure.

Of course, the idea must meet the general requirements for the deal that is a patent -- utility, novelty, and non-obviousness.

Regards.

[piotrek255]

ok, so when you go to patent the idea, do you have to have it wrote down in detail? or is there some kind of form you have to fill in? or do i have to pay some lawyer for consulting and explaining the steps for patenting my idea (i guess they are different in every country) ?

PS: is there some law that prohibits the person in the place where i will go to patent the idea to tell someone else about it after hearing the idea from me?

[JimIvey]

No forms for the application itself.  It's a hand-crafted legal/technical document.

There's no requirement that you hire an attorney/agent to write it for you.  But, each of us has spent years just to become competent in write those legal/technical documents.

Just because you can write it yourself doesn't mean you ought to write it yourself.  But that's your decision to make nonetheless.

Regards.

[piotrek255]

ok, so i will hire an attorney/agent to write it for me, but it would be good if i could sign some kind of paper with this attorney/agent in case he would like to spread my idea before i will patent it, is that possible? if so, where can i get information on how to make such document? is there some template or do i have to hire someone to write it for me?

PS: I just want it to be taken care of professionally so that my website would not be copied all over the internet in a matter of months.

[JimIvey]

An attorney's obligation to maintain client confidences is stronger than any paper an attorney would sign.  In addition, I doubt very much any attorney would want to steal a client's idea, even if they could get away with it.

For all practical intents and purposes, I'd say you have absolutely nothing to worry about.

Regards.