I am in a dilema for the past 2 weeks. Need help of DP members here. Should i develop a Business Plan/Marketability of my idea and then apply for Trademark/copyright/Patent? The reason, iam asking this is ...... The idea is big and can be applied to many different fields in the same category. I don't have resources to pay for full fledged Business plan. I will rely on cheap BP firms and will ask for partial business plan. So, the risk is trust. With this in background, should i go for Trademark/copyright/Patent first? Are there any other approaches? There are trustworthy BP firms like growthink, but i cannot afford them. Thanks again sri
A Trademark, Copyright, and Patent are completely different things. You should do some research on all of them before deciding if what you are trying to do would even be applicable to all three. You cannot even apply for a trademark or servicemark until it is already in use. The application filing fee is $600 per classification, and there are approximately 48 different classifications. That does not include a trademark or servicemark search or any attorney fees. It takes reading a book to fully understand trademarks and service marks, but a simple definition would be that it can be a name or graphic you use for your business or product. You cannot trademark something that someone else has already used in the classification you want to have your trademark in (doesn't matter if they have a registered trademark or not) which is why you should pay to have a search done before you even apply. A search will run a couple hundred dollars and up. It will take six years (and another $600) before your mark will granted "uncontestable" status (assuming it get past the examining attorney who will look at your application and no one contests the mark in that six year period). A Patent search is also something you will need to have done. It may be that someone else already has applied for a similar idea (doesn't matter if they have gone to market with it). You should probably be prepared to spend several thousand dollars to investigate whether or not there is prior usage rights on whatever it is you are planning to do. Even if you idea hasn't been done exactly, it may not be different enough to be given a patent, or it may infringe upon an existing patent (or trademark) which would put you at risk for being sued. You can use the web and the http://www.uspto.gov/ website to do some background research, but it is really going to take an intellectual property attorney to tell you whether or not they believe your mark or product has a chance of gaining a trademark/servicemark or patent.
mjewel, You have given a very good explanation. Most of what you said made sense along with what i read in past 2 days. I was prepared to spend around $2000 on that, but looks like it will be much more and painful course. Also, iam compounded with the costs assosciated with BP development which alone costs upward of $8000. After these tasks, i be left with nothing to work on my projects. What a sad situation. Fortunately there are angel investors who may be interested, but was told not to go that direction. My best bet would be do spend around $10000 get a patent pending status and a ready BP. Then time will be on your side to start implementing it. Then go for servicemark. Does this sound a good plan? thanks again for mjewel and offcourse Sandeep. How to leave a positive rec for mjewel post? --sri