[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
right, but he also said he can't manufacture it... if he can't create/manufacture his product, he won't be able to patent it as far as I can tell.
Seems doubtful that he'll be able to sell just his idea to any company. But, it'd be cool if he could.
[/ QUOTE ]
Frink, a patent application is a document... not a physical product review [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]
[/ QUOTE ]
Sure, a patent application is a document. I'm not exaclty sure what you're getting at here.
At any rate, I am still maintaining that the OP cannot patent an idea that he has in his head. He will need some sort of physical expression of his idea.
Source:
http://www.ipwatchdog.com/protect_idea.html
[ QUOTE ]
Unfortunately, despite what you may have heard, there is absolutely no way to protect an idea through intellectual property law. Copyright protects expression and patent law protects inventions, and neither protect ideas. In both cases the idea is the first critical step, but without an embodiement there can be no intellectual property protection.
[/ QUOTE ]
My poking around the internets has indicated that you pretty much need a working prototype of the "product" before it can be patented. Or, at the very least, OP will need detailed designs/specifications.
Also, OP mentioned that his product is adapting an existing technology for a different purpose. As another poster has pointed out, this will may make patenting his product impossible. Although we are given no specifics about the idea so who's to say for sure?
This is also a good read:
article
However, the article is quite pessimistic towards OP's chances of selling his product patent to a company.