I have 2 provisional patents and 1 granted. The below tracks exactly to my experience.
I would add that it is best to talk to an experienced patent lawyer once you have dine your due diligence. I know one who has been great. PM me if you want to talk with him...first phone call would be gratis
In the 80's I came up with an idea for a car accessory that I thought had merit. This was, of course, pre internet. I was fortunate to be living in San Diego at the time and had a college friend who was a lawyer in LA.
His advice to me, especially in the car market, was that you have to find a trusted, known manufacturer who has a solid reputation in the business. "If not, they'll be stamping your product out by the thousands in Mexico by the time you get in your car and drive home after the first meeting when you brief you idea".
It took some time, but I found the right guy...the idea, oddly, ended up as a toy, which was never patented!
Good luck.
Quote:
Originally Posted by unclebilly
YUP. I have around 20 applications and 5 granted patents spanning the last 10 years.
What you should do is file a us provisional which gives you a year to vet out if this is something worth persuing further. I think it is around $2k to file the provisional.
Depending on your idea, you may want to go pct which doesn't work with a provisional. I'd suggest you file the provisional, disclose only with an NDA and then if the idea has merit, go pct and use the priority date of the provisional to file.
go to United States Patent and Trademark Office and do a prior art search before you spend any $$$,
remember the following:
1. a patent must be novel, useful, and inventive.
2. there is no such thing as patent cops. all a patent does is give you the right to sue someone that you feel is infringing on your patent. the onus is on you to prove the infringement. if you are successful getting a patent granted and don't have the $$$ to defend your patent should someone choose to infringe, you just wasted your $$$ getting the patent.
3. oh, and there are 2 types of patents, design and utility patents. My comments above refer to utility patents. see Patents Guidance, Tools & Manuals for more details. |