[Peter Matteson]

A couple notes on items others missed.

If you plan on filing a Paris Convention international patent realize that you have a limited window after filing for a US patent to do so, otherwise your US patent application can be used against you as prior art. Unlike the US the rest of the world uses a strict novelty system for patents meaning that once any info about the patent is published it is no longer patentable. In the US you have a 6 month window that starts from the date of publication.

Make sure a patent is the correct type of protection for your idea. Sometimes keeping it a trade secret is better. Patents are required to include enough detail that one reasonably familier with the field can duplicate the invention with the given data. This makes it easier for some one to reverse engineer your idea. Filing is getting a limited term of protection from the government for putting your work in the public domain for others to later use.

Where others say beware of being too vague, being to specific can be as bad or worse. One example being my company has aquired patents on the use of commercial products that the manufacturers did not think of. We therefore have protection from any one else using these products to compete against us. (I apologize for being inspecific but for business purposes I have to be vague.)

Pete