Hi Rich, and welcome from across the seas... (I'm based in London, I'm just squatting on the list..!)
I did a course recently which touched on this kind of thing... and one thing I learned was that jurisdiction matters hugely in patents. If you apply for a patent in Australia, that doesn't stop anyone from applying for a patent n exactly the same thing in the US -- in fact it may encourage it! And while there isn't really such a thing as an international patent, there is the international Patent Cooperation Treaty. You can apply for a PCT which then gives you time (18 months IIRC) to apply for national patents around the world. http://www.wipo.int/pct/en/treaty/about.htm Of course you should remember that if you have made your techniques known then it's more difficult to apply for patents, and for software/business methods it can be very difficult to get a patent in Europe (it can be done, but only when it can be argued that the software improves the performance of a computer, eg for an image compression algorithm.. bizarre I know) Yes it can take a long time to be granted, but that's fine, if it's granted you can go and "prosecute" people who violated the patent right back to the date of publishing your application. I agree with Tim's point that it can make you more "investable", or at least make potential investors sit up and pay a bit more attention. Best of luck, Brendan. (ObDisclaimer, none of this is legal advice yadda yadda) -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Silicon Beach Australia mailing list. Guidelines on discussion: http://tr.im/ujKF No lurkers! It is expected that you introduce yourself: http://tr.im/ujMm To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/silicon-beach-australia?hl=en?hl=en To unsubscribe from this group, send email to silicon-beach-australia+unsubscribegooglegroups.com or reply to this email with the words "REMOVE ME" as the subject.
