US Patents

Thread Starter

Razor Concepts

Joined Oct 7, 2008
214
Anyone have experience in getting US Patents? Like is a patent lawyer needed (seeing as it costs only ~500 to file one), etc etc.
 

loosewire

Joined Apr 25, 2008
1,686
$2,500.00 in some cases won't get you very much,
I recomend people get law degree's to round out there
resume.It is sad that patent attorneys and other
attorneys are so lose with your money. Give more info
or ask a question,we have had plenty of experience in
wasteing our money,with the patent office help.
 

loosewire

Joined Apr 25, 2008
1,686
I agree,but new people come along that we can help from going down that road.
I like the one where the library says we will have S.C.O.R.E. Sm. Bus. Adm. patent
atty. Sucessful millionaire at the end of the meeting you find out nobody can help. No
non-disclosure forms ever signed by anyone.
 

Duane P Wetick

Joined Apr 23, 2009
440
Long ago when I worked for the WR Grace Co; (See A Civil Action), their legal counsel told me that the only reason to get a patent is to be able to sell your invention to someone for a great deal of money. A patent is a learning document; everyone can see and understand what your invention is. So if you want to keep your (invention) under wraps, do not get a patent. If you do decide to get a US patent, be aware that there are many companies who may copy your invention and not pay you a cent in royalties. You will have to sue them for damages and then your eternal litigation troubles and loss of money have only just begun. The US patent office will not support you in any litigation.

Cheers, DPW [ Lawyers do not solve problems...they only keep the fires burning while en-riching themselves.]
 
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ELECTRONERD

Joined May 26, 2009
1,147
If you sell your invention to a company, make sure they sign a contract before you show it to them! If you didn't, they could claim they invented it.

Austin
 

retched

Joined Dec 5, 2009
5,207
Patent is NOT the way to go. Publishing is.

If you publish you design, you dont need a patent. And If a company that steals your design, off the patent, you will pay millions to fight it. Publish it. Then if they want your idea, they can hire you.

A patent is only a "right to sue". The office will not help. If the company that steals your idea is tired of your lawyers bugging them for money, they can find a "cave drawing" that looks something like your design and bust your patent outright. If you publish it, no one else can patent it.

You can publish the finished product without laying out the details, like in a patent, that helps anyone that wants to steal it to do so with ease.

If you want to sell the idea, publish it then do so. Keeping it a secret once its built is bad. Publish it.
 

ELECTRONERD

Joined May 26, 2009
1,147
Patent is NOT the way to go. Publishing is.

If you publish you design, you dont need a patent. And If a company that steals your design, off the patent, you will pay millions to fight it. Publish it. Then if they want your idea, they can hire you.

A patent is only a "right to sue". The office will not help. If the company that steals your idea is tired of your lawyers bugging them for money, they can find a "cave drawing" that looks something like your design and bust your patent outright. If you publish it, no one else can patent it.

You can publish the finished product without laying out the details, like in a patent, that helps anyone that wants to steal it to do so with ease.

If you want to sell the idea, publish it then do so. Keeping it a secret once its built is bad. Publish it.
It's a shame companies prevaricate, but I'm sure that isn't going to stop. Where would you advise that I publish an invention? I know that several engineering magazines pay you for your design to be published in their magazine, but will you still be declared as the inventor?

Austin
 

Paulo540

Joined Nov 23, 2009
191
The only thing that patents are good for is so that you can say "Patented Technology" in your adverts.

Even knowing how futile patents actually are for anyone without 300 Harvard lawyers on retainer, it still has a pretty convincing ring to it, I must admit.
 

retched

Joined Dec 5, 2009
5,207
Industry mags are the best way to go. You will still and always be the inventor. You can place a public notice in your local newspaper before the publication stating the fact of invention and your role.

Money is made from marketing. Market your idea. Patents only make patent lawyers rich. Genetics are about the only thing you can patent and prove.

Take a look in a popular science magazine. They will do an interview of the inventor of new products and technologies. That lets everyone know where to reach you for product information.

Don't give them the roadmap to screwing you. If you have ever seen any of the raids on Chinese counterfeit factories, they are full of patents to help them build the fakes.

It can still be a trade secret. KFC didn't patent their spice mix for their chicken, and they are making plenty. Everyone knows who invented it. Good ole' Col. Sanders.

Marketing.
 

retched

Joined Dec 5, 2009
5,207
It's a shame companies prevaricate, but I'm sure that isn't going to stop. Where would you advise that I publish an invention? I know that several engineering magazines pay you for your design to be published in their magazine, but will you still be declared as the inventor?

Austin
Yes, industry rags try to build their viability by having the latest and greatest. So, instead of paying writers to write articles, they pay you for their content. They buy your article, not your invention.
 

t06afre

Joined May 11, 2009
5,934
If I make an invention, and publish a paper on it. Everyone will be free to use this invention. I will stand as the inventor, but a firm using my invention is free to do so. If I want to protect my invention, and publish it. I must at least have a patent pending before I publish
 

retched

Joined Dec 5, 2009
5,207
If you publish you invention, you need not show the inner workings of it. That can be kept secret. So, a company has a choice of paying you or paying their R&D department to figure out what you did, and pay them to make all the mistakes you already paid for. It is more economical for them to pay you rather than pay a team until they figure it all out.

The patent never matters. Even if its pending, that means (This guys invention will be detailed for all to see and copy, shortly!)

Thats why you publish when your ready for market. Too many inventors patent there wares thinking it will bring money for marketing. NO ONE WILL CALL on you. Why would they? EVERYTHING is explained in the patent!

You can choose how to publish. You can put your invention in a black box with a input jack and output (for instance). Thats all others will see in the publication. You can explain what it accomplishes, and why they need it, but you need not explain how.
 

t06afre

Joined May 11, 2009
5,934
I actually know quite a lot about the process making a patent. As I used to work with a researcher who claimed to be able to measure pain with skin conductance. This scientist was very concerned about patenting the invention. The thing turned out to be snakeoil. So I pulled out of the project.
This scientist "stole" the invention from a post-graduate thesis. So the patent is worthless as the thesis was published 6 months before the patent official date
 

retched

Joined Dec 5, 2009
5,207
That leads to a good point.

There are tens of thousands of thesis being written every year, and if your idea happened to be in a thesis paper 1 day or 25 years ago, you do not get a refund from the lawyers, the patent office, or any one else in the chain.

The scientist most likely wanted the patent to go through before the thesis publish date. Just to be a jerk.
 

Thread Starter

Razor Concepts

Joined Oct 7, 2008
214
So, reviving my old thread here :D

As luck would have it, through some series of events I landed with a science fair award for a free patenting service by a patent attorney. Now I'm kind of clueless what to do next.

First, I think I will go through with patenting (if it even gets approved)? Personally I don't think it has much commercial value, and was not really planning on pursuing much more out of it until I got this opportunity. And I have nothing to lose, then, right?

I figure something commercially useless but patentable would be alright to try to get a patent, at the least it could be resume-padding material. I think :confused:
 

loosewire

Joined Apr 25, 2008
1,686
I just heard that a guy got a patent on a form to get a loan.
I have never seen the form,heard It on a radio program.It would
good to just get a patent,just so you can say you got patent
It's hard to get one.Watch out for the extras on the free one
you never know about the fine print. You are near Washington,
you can walk down and get one.Watch the T.V. program
(Shark Tank) they have 5 Investors letting people present
there proposed patents,you get some good Information. @TO6-
did you patent the rooster,I saw a man walking Forum name
with the same stride as the rooster.
 
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