Like Leonardo da Vinci or Archimedes, you've applied your incredible brainpower to invent a revolutionary product that will forever alter people's lives in a very deep and profound way. The only problem now is that you don't know if someone else has thought of it already. Never fear; there are a number of tools at your disposal to ascertain whether your brainchild has been pre-emptively stolen by someone else.

Does my invention already exist?

The best and most popular method is to conduct a patent search to see if other inventors have copyrighted your idea. You could pay a patent attorney to do this and more for you, but the process generally runs in the $5,000 to $10,000 range, which isn't feasible for most of us. Instead, try websites like patft.uspto.gov or noroip.com, which specialize in searching large databases of patents for relatively little money. Be as creative with your descriptive search terms as you can to give yourself the best chance of discovering any patents that are a little too similar to yours. Search for patents similar to your Electric Extending Marshmallow Toaster by searching all those words, plus synonyms like "motorized," "telescoping," "s'more" and "cooking," along with any others you can think of. Search marketing resources, consumer product venues and upcoming technology forums in your area of invention for any products that either exist now or will in the near future. If you can't find anything, it might be time to prepare your patent and become the inventor who gets there first.

Source:

US Patent Office

NOROIP: Patent Searches

More Information:

WIPO: FAQ about patents