Should You apply for a Patent for Your Invention?

One of the questions from the floor at the presentation by Peter Hayward and Ian Lewis on Patent Office Advisory Opinions at Leeds on 24 Nov 2005 was "Why do lawyers advise their clients to seek patents or other intellectual property rights if they know the clients will never be able to afford them?" As I was in the chair I fielded the question to Richard Kempner of Addleshaws and he in turn bundled it off to Michael Harrison, this year's president of the Chartered Institute of Patent Agents.

I am bound to say that I am often asked the question "Should I apply for a Patent?" at inventors clubs and my monthly workshops in the Media Centre. I have now encapsulated the advice that I usually give in a new article on the Huddersfield Intellectual Property website "Should You apply for a Patent for Your Invention?" I appreciate that not every IP professional shares my views but then they do not always see the disappointment when I have to tell a chap who has spent his life savings on patenting his invention what is involved in enforcing his rights. Several have told me that they believe they would have been better off spending the money on a cruise or even down the rub-a-dub-dub.

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