Do I have to have a Patent?
Not all things are protected by Patent, there are trademarks and design registration and in some cases nothing more than copyright but yes you should try and get the relevant protection of your idea or concept before you publicly disclose it. We strongly advise that you obtain, for a potentially patentable idea, a provisional patent and preferably one that is prepared by a qualified Patent Attorney.

How can I be guaranteed that Patent Solutions & other interested parties will not capitalise on my innovation?
A Confidentiality Disclosure & Secrecy Agreement and a Service Agreement must be entered into prior to Patent Solutions commencing any consulting services for you. This agreement will authorise Patent Solutions to act on your behalf and in such event no information can be disclosed to any another party without your consent.

Do I have protection by lodging a Provisional Patent and is that only for Australia?
The main purpose of the provisional is to provide you with a priority date (this is to establish that you came up with the idea first) the provisional is not checked or examined when lodged it is merely time and date stamped. The provisional will only provide you with a priority date for the information you have provided in it so if you have not explained your invention properly, you may have a priority date but nothing really protected. Lets assume that you lodged a provisional for a “marking pen” but did not say that it had a cap on it. You then told someone about the idea, without them signing a confidentiality agreement. They could in theory lodge a patent claim for a “marking pen with cap” and not be infringing on your patent claim”

As a broad statement, when you lodge your provisional in Australia your Priority date is recognised internationally, so you don’t have to lodge a provisional in the UK and US and NZ etc as most countries through out the world have a reciprocal acknowledgement of Provisionals.

Does this mean Patent Solutions is unable to assist me if I only have Provisional status?
Definitely not, Patent Solutions will and does act for some clients without a provisional in place but we will only do so on the basis that we feel it is safe for our client and that we can achieve a desired outcome without the jeopardising your chances of seeking a patent or other IP protection at a later stage. However the sooner you register your IP claim the sooner you prevent loosing the commercialising opportunity to someone that beat you to the Patent Office.

What will my costs be?
Because we offer such a variety of services and we always tailor or strategy to deliver your desired outcomes, we can not give a cost until we know what we are to do for you. We offer a free, confidential, no obligation meeting or interview where we discuss your needs. We then will provide you with a formal letter of offer setting out the services and costs for your particular project. In most cases we will offer a fixed cost service. We will never enter into an agreement where you can incur costs to us with out your prior approval. In those instances where finite costs can not be provided we will set an agreed budget with you prior to you being committed to any cost.

Do you provide me with a Patent as well as other services and at what cost?
No only Patent Attorneys or the actual inventors are legally allowed to draw up patents. Patent Solutions are not Patent Attorneys we can assist you in some ways with the provisional application but in the main, we offer complimentary services to those offered by the Patent Attorney. However we will liaise with your Patent Attorney or one of our preferred consulting attorneys to make sure you are able to make a well informed decision. We assist you not only from a patent legal aspect but more importantly from a commercial reality aspect as well. In some instances we are paid a referral fee from the patent attorney, in those cases we declare that to you and deduct that from the fees we would otherwise normally charge.

Can I engage Patent Solutions to sell or licence my Patentable Idea and on what basis?
From this point we review and discuss your invention and establish a tailored solution for you.
We then provide you with a formal letter of offer and service agreement stating the services we are providing, the period we are providing them for and the costs.
It is only once you have agreed and signed the letter of acceptance that you are obligated to us.
As part of the letter of offer we will set out what the fees and costs are and when they are payable.

Our services typically include but are not limited to: