Patients often go for second medical opinions, especially when
the diagnosis is bad news. The same should go for patentability as
well, but inventors often take the first diagnosis to patentability
and protection of their invention as the final truth.
You have an invention and would like to find out whether it is
patentable or not. You approach a patent attorney – often the
cheapest one – for an opinion. You provide a short overview
of the invention and a novelty search is conducted. The search
results show that your invention is not new, so the recommendation
is that you should not file a patent application. This is often the
stage where inventors abandon their invention, or at least abandon
the prospects of protecting it.
