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Your innovative new idea or invention has the potential to change your life, and the lives of others as well. But until it can be further developed and marketed, it needs to be protected from those that might steal your dreams. Once properly protected, you have many more options available to you.

But how best do you provide this protection? What will work for YOU? Basically you need to go with one of the following: secrecy, a full patent, or a provisional patent. Your current financial situation and the nature of your specific idea or type of invention will determine which option is best for you. So we will look at these in that light.

Secrecy – world famous Coca Cola was family-run and kept their products ’secret formula’ a secret for generations. Secrecy works best for processes or for products not easily reverse engineered. Long-term, however, it’s almost impossible to keep a secret. If you go this route, you will need deep pockets if you intend to avoid outsider involvement. You will have to finance the production and distribution of your product on your own.

Full Patent – If your idea or invention is mechanical, technical or electronic, it is unlikely that mere secrecy will work for you. Your idea will ultimately require a full patent. If you have checked out any of the companies that cater to new inventors, you know that full (non-provisional) patents are very expensive. In reality, these full patents will need an experienced patent attorney — and they don’t come cheap! This is the ultimate way to go, if you can afford it.

Provisional Patent – if funds are limited, this is very viable. It’s likely the best option for you. The PPA or provisional patent application gets your foot in the door and holds your place, until someone you assign can pay for the costly full patent. You get to display ‘patent Pending’ with the description of your product. It gives you one year to find backers, promoters and partners and to get the full patent.

Once you’ve obtained either a full or a provisional patent, negotiations can safely begin with third-parties to further develop, manufacture, sell, and distribute your product. You are in a strong negotiating position. You can have them pay you royalties, signing fees, and commissions. You will also be creatively free to invent and develop additional new ideas that you may have.

To repeat, a full patent is extremely expensive and should not be attempted without an experienced patent attorney. But filing a provisional application for patent can be done completely on your own. You could start by going to the website of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Here you will find hundreds of forms and many pages of instructions for each form. It could take you 12 – 15 hours to read and do the research, if you have the time and inclination, but you will learn a lot. Eventually, you will determine just those few forms needed for the provisional patent application (PPA). For even more help there are many readily available kits.

Remember in all of this that time is of the essence! You don’t want someone else to beat you to the punch, so be thorough but be as quick as possible in completing your research. If you place a high value on your own time, or if you find researching government websites to be tedious, or just not your cup of tea, then an inexpensive ‘kit’ might be a better match for your needs.

Quality kits will either list or actually contain all forms needed. While some include only the ‘government instructions’ for every line of each form, more user-friendly kits will provide simplified, plain-English step-by-step directions, for filling in only those sections and lines that are required — not all sections and lines need to be filled out — some should NOT be filled out. Costs for the kits start at $50 – $100.

Your valuable time will be freed up for more productive or creative use, once you have full patent or provisional patent protection. You will be searching for eager and able third parties that will help you push your dream toward reality. Once protected your move toward financial security will be accelerated. So don’t ignore the necessity of doing what it takes to get protected, them move confidently and safely forward!