One more bit of advice: Patenting is expensive business AND having a patent does not stop people from infringing.
What I mean is that a patent is really a license to sue. It does not automatically enforce itself. You have to convince the possible infringer that it is worth the bother to pay you rather than roll the dice in court. It is a very expensive game to play.
Having a patent is a plus on your side, but it is by no means a promise of a successful suit. Success in court depends on many things including the ability of your adversary to invalidate some or all of the claims in the patent (by showing that there is "prior art" for example or that the invention was obvious to anyone "skilled in the arts" -- the presumption is that the claims are valid, but that does not prevent this kind of an attack winning). It also depends on how skilled your patent attorney was when he/she wrote the patent application -- if you don't claim it, you don't get to suit to stop it from being infringed upon. It is not always a savings to write your own patent application or to use the cheapest firm you can find.
Anyway, bottom line is this: I am with Don Lancaster in that I wouldn't even think about patenting a million dollar idea.
http://http://www.tinaja.com/patnt01.asp *
Joe J.
P.S. It is a very different thing for large companies, I have my name on 15 US Patents -- Delphi & GM have different considerations to consider...
*this is not the original source just a link from a quickie search on "Don Lancaster" &patent & "million dollar idea"
Don Lancaster is one of the guys in white hats by the way -- worth listening to. Has anyone tried to get him as a FIRST judge? That would be awesome!