Hi all,

I'm not sure if any of you have had any experience with getting a patent for a program written in VB, but if you have, I have a few questions:

1. Roughly how much would it cost to place a patent on a piece of software?

2. Is there any "easy" way to do this, preferably without hiring a lawyer or that sort of thing.

3. If I do not get a patent, is anything stopping others from just grabbing my program and running?

Thanks all for your help. I really appreciate it.

-tom