Filing for a Patent?

The best initial way in order to attempt to determine if your invention is novel and patentable is to have a patentability/novelty search performed. The search will uncover patents which are the closest to your invention - you should consult a patent professional - attorney/agent in order to help you interpret the search results. If you then conclude that your invention is worth pursuing in order to hopefully achieve a patent, you need to file a patent application with the Patent Office in your home country.

I agree with Steven. Patent professionals can conduct patentability/novelty searches for you to provide an indication of the patentability of your invention. This usually involves searching the patent databases of Patent Offices around the world.

I also recommend that you initially conduct a simple search-engine based search (e.g. Google search) for your product to identify the closest publicly available products. This would give you a quick (and free) indication of whether your invention is patentable. That being said, I must caution you that these searches, especially a self-conducted searches, are never conclusive. There is always that likelihood that relevant prior art documents may be missed, for example, because of unusual synonyms used in the prior art document.

If you decide to file a patent application, the application has to be filed at the Patent Office of the country you wish to obtain protection. The Patent Office will then conduct its own prior art search to assess the patentability of your invention.

Regards

Jing