Is there an alternative to patenting?

Question

Iv'e invented something related to increasing crop growth and need a way to protect my intellectual property. I'm in secondary school and applying for a patent( Iv'e researched on how and where) seems like a load of work. I've got exams near and I really cant afford to spend that time. Many of my teachers and I believe that my invention might have a little potential. Is there any other way to protect my intellectual property? Can I license my invention under a creative commons license like CC BY-NC-SA ?

Answer 1

There's an important distinction to remember when you're looking into "alternate forms of patents:"

• The invention.
• Drawings, descriptions, and other tangible explanations of the invention.

These two concepts live somewhat separately in the domain, and unfortunately it can sometimes be difficult to remember that they are distinct.

The quick answer to your question is "no." A patent is a patent, and a patent grants you the right to stop others from performing your invention. Other forms of protection may protect you or others in different ways, but nothing will compete with a patent when you're trying to protect an invention.

Some people claim that "copyrighting your invention" is a viable alternative. That's similar to what you're questioning about a CC license. What they often mean is to get a copyright on the drawings of your invention. This is extremely misleading, however, because a copyright, or indeed a licensing model like CC offers, is on artwork. By definition, you can't copyright an invention.

It's like if I drew a picture of a tree, copyrighted it, then told you that you couldn't grow any trees for yourself. The copyright protects me from you stealing and selling my exact picture of the tree, but you can always go draw your own and sell them, or even sell your own trees.

It's true, and it's unfortunate: patents take a lot of time and money to get right (and to keep right, for that matter, with maintenance fees and possible litigation involved). But they are, in my opinion, a necessary evil when conducting a certain type of business.

I'd suggest you speak with your professors about potentially getting grant money from the school or another source, then speaking with a patent professional about potentially working on a lower-than-usual rate for you. There are fees due to the patent office that you won't be able to get around, but you might be able to get a draft written cheaper than otherwise. I would definitely suggest hiring someone to draft it over doing it yourself, though, fair warning, there's a fine, non-trivial art to writing patents.