In a very short story:

0) search the existing patent's database for what u think u invented. This will save u time and money, along with disappointment. A very big fraction of all research in the industry would not have been done, if they have checked patents databases first! much of thing gets redone or reinvented time and time again, wasting time,effort and money.

1)do not show or talk about details of ur invention. Any for of making it public will disqualify u from having a right to patent it. Public disclosure is : any written or oral form of presentation to anyone, together with the presentation of a working device to the public. Public is at least 1 person. U need them to sign nondisclosure agreement (buy one at attorney) if u want to give any info.

2)Can an expert in the discipline come to ur device without much effort? if yes then it is not inventive and will be rejected on this ground

3) does it solves technical problem?only technical inventions are patentable.

4)patent is expensive and u pay every year and every year its is more than the year before. U pay per territory (international patent is more expensive than covering one country).

5)get attorney who is skilled in patent cases. Formulating good protection perimeter of ur rights depends on structure of the text.

6) pay taxes, if u r not paying taxes u will not get right to have a patent and will loose a granted one(s).

Procedure IF successful will take u 3 years. In this time u can not manufacture ur product.

Dave was looking for an answer the easy way....a hallmark of successful inventors....Here's a shortcut you weren't looking for:


http://www.quebecoislibre.org/000902-3.htm

www.tinaja.com/glib/casagpat.pdf




TS

I am sorry, but much of this advice is plain wrong.

You are allowed to show the invention.  Publishing is a different story, but even there, there is a year period from self-publication where you can still patent your device.

I am not sure exactly what you mean by technical, but you can get patents on methodology and other things.  Michael Jackson patented some of his dance moves.

Doing a patent yourself is not very expensive.  And maintaining a patent is not that expensive either.  But your chances of having an effective patent without an attorney's help are not great unless you really put a lot of thought and effort into it. 

Patent drafting is a bit of an art, so yes, you should talk with an attorney, but getting a book first will not hurt.  In short, the idea is to draft your claims as broadly as possible to give yourself maximum protection against copycats, yet not so broad as to be invalid.

I have never heard of patent forfeiture being the penalty for missing some tax deadlines?  Where did you get this info?

And regarding the bit about an expert being able to arrive at your device easily, sorry, but you have no idea what you are talking about.  You are referring to obviousness, but obviousness is actually a hard thing to disqualify a patent on.  What is obvious to the layman is not necessarily obvious in the legal sense.  So don't assume anything is obvious, just get the patent and let the possible future infringers try to make that argument.