Answer by Josephine Inge of 1Place Patents Attorneys + Solicitors, Paddington 2021 NSW

• Jot down some notes about your invention at a very high level if you have not already done so.
• Continue to keep your invention secret and conduct some simple patent searches to check its originality. This link might help: http://www.1p.com.au/expert/expert_wizard.php?area_id=12.
• Take your patent search results and your notes and either:
  • draft your own patent specification making sure you meet all the requirements under the Patents Act; or
  • seek professional advice. This is the recommended option. Drafting your own patent is a bit like building your own house. Anyone can do it but getting the foundations right is critically important and can be a costly exercise to repair.
• Make sure you understand the patent process. There is a timeline of steps that must be taken once you have lodged your first patent application. Your first application will typically be a provisional patent application that will protect your idea for 12 months while you finalise your design.
• You should budget sufficient resources to meet critical deadlines.
• Weigh up the cost and benefits of seeking patent protection. Ask yourself:
  • will I get a return on this investment;
  • what are the risks of not applying for a patent; and
  • is a patent the best form of protection to meet my short and long term business objectives?
• Once you have made up your mind you need to act.
• It is important to secure the earliest possible filing date for your patent application. This is because the filing date serves as the ‘priority date’ from which time your invention takes ‘priority’ over any later-filed patents for the same invention.