The amount of energy quickly approaches the value of the idea, in most
instances. Also, even when patents are issued, the GOVERNMENT does not
defend them for you - you have to have the resources to defend it
yourself. If you don't have the bucks to take the first several offenders
to court and win, thereby scaring off the rest of the pirates - you're
out of luck, your patent is worthless, even if you have the best new idea
of the decade. Also, in foreign jurisdictions, patent defense can be
impossible if political considerations override legal ones - the Chinese
did not have a concept of intellectual property, which allowed them to
infringe numberless patents without fear of prosecution.
The single most effective methods of protection are keeping the
information to yourself - trade secret practice - or allying with a
deep-pockets corporation who will license your patent from you and defend
it for you.
I am co-author of two useless U.S. patents (discovered while working in
the research labs of a major company) - they had an employment agreement
to buy them from me for $200 each. Since neither were ever
commercialized, the company in effect subsidized worthless patent
production - they did it so they could also get the worthwhile patents
generated by my co-workers. (Mine had promise, but no market ever
developed).
james