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I have an idea/product that I want to patent, but I live outside the US and I don't have the money for all the huge expense that is to patent something.

Are there investors that are interested in sponsoring a patent? By sponsor I mean, they will pay for all the patent procedures and costs and later they will have a percentage of the profits on the patent/product sale.

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  • Welcome to Ask Patents. We are set up to answer questions about how the U.S. patent system works and for requests to help find prior for pending or issued U.S. patents Question about finding investors are outside of our on-topic areas. – George White Aug 20 '14 at 21:51
  • Oh that's disappointing :/ most people I talk the only problem they see is getting the money for the patent.... – mFeinstein Aug 20 '14 at 22:10
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It is unlikely that you will find an investor who would pay for the patent -- typically investors are investing in a company and team to build a product and business.

With a provisional patent you are able to file for very little money which you have 12 month to build a successful product.

Patents are too easy to write (relatively speaking) for the majority to be worth anything without a product and business to prove their value.

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  • I am afraid of make a provisional patent by myself and then some company will read it and find a "hole" and file a patent, making my own patent useless in the future...I am not a specialist, what do you think about this scenario? – mFeinstein Aug 22 '14 at 18:56
  • Provisional patents are not published, at least not within the first 12 months (not sure if ever published) -- make sure you idea is fully and detailed described in a provisional patent and you should be fine. The bigger risk is if you don't file, as different person would be able to file for the same idea and you would have nothing to show you were first if you didn't have a provisional patent filed. – Soren Aug 22 '14 at 20:21
  • Do I have to submit drawings in the provisional as well? Are there any good links on tips and tricks on provisional patents? – mFeinstein Aug 23 '14 at 21:33
  • Write as complete description as possible -- there is no particular format for a provisional patent -- it is just a detailed technical description without any claims -- the better you describe it the better you stand a when it comes to getting the final patent written. – Soren Aug 23 '14 at 23:55
  • Do you think it's better to ask for a patent lawyer to make one for me? I believe it will be A LOT cheaper than a patent filling, right? – mFeinstein Aug 24 '14 at 3:02

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