In this case it's an international patent as the original author is not based in or from the US which adds complications. That aside you're looking at a minimum of $500 in patent office fees alone. That's probably fairly reasonable if that was all it is, and if you can get it right on the first try it might be. That cost is per submission and there is a huge schedule of fees that might expand that.
You're also glossing over the personal value of time expenditure to do that which even with professional guidance can take hundreds of hours. It is absolutely prohibitively expensive for something someone is going to give away for free and even most small independent companies.
There should be no reason that a donated public idea or concept should require any expenditure for protection.
You're also glossing over the personal value of time expenditure to do that which even with professional guidance can take hundreds of hours. It is absolutely prohibitively expensive for something someone is going to give away for free and even most small independent companies.
There should be no reason that a donated public idea or concept should require any expenditure for protection.