Anyone here ever filed a patent for anything?

Got an idea for something that I've only seen one other similar on the internet. I've built a crude version of it and currently still testing it. I'm happy to say so far I'm pleased with it. Not a huge deal but obviously I'm kinda keeping it a secret till I find out it's effectiveness and feasibility. How do I find out if my contraption is worthy of patent?


It isn't a sexual device before y'all start asking.

 

Post up a picture of what it is and what it's supposed to do and we'll let you know if it's patent worthy.

Website worthy is a whole different ball game.

 

Its a better mousetrap.

 

Woody Allen did it in the 70s so sorry

 

I looked into it with the "dog fire escape system" we built a few years ago. A friend is a patent attorney, and after meeting with him, I decided not to follow through with it. One thing to make sure of, if you really want to patent something, is to not share it with anyone. Also, search "google patents" and do your homework to see if there is anything else out there already patented. Figure $7-$10k to get a patent on something. There is provisional and non-provisional, research, filings, back and forth with the patent office(once they get to yours), etc. Its not quick, cheap or simple. Find a patent attorney and get their input.

 

Thank you

 

No problem. If you can't find a patent attorney near you, I can give you my friends info, but he's in Minneapolis.

 

Dog fire escape huh? Sounds cool.

 

I got only as far as the patent search phase, but that's step one.

A patent attorney can get you started. In my case, I thought I had invented a tool that I wanted to bring to market. Turned out a German company already had a us patent on a tool of the same concept. They weren't marketing it, so I could have chosen to attempt to purchase the patent, but I lost interest. Didn't have the commitment or resources to continue.

Beyond that a patent attorney can put the concept into language and apply, as far as I know.

 

Thanks for the info. That's cool y'all came up with ideas and actually acted on them.

 

@ton Please report to the white courtesy telephone...

 

Yup. Go look in the YouTube thread.

 

That's awesome!

 

Current patent law is first to file. It used to be whoever could prove they had the idea earlier, but now it’s first to file. I think it’s relatively easy to apply for a provisional patent and then you have up to one year from the date of first public disclosure to file for the patent.

The patent can then take 2-5 years to be granted and you can market with a patent pending designation up to that point. Filing for a patent with wide variations to cover all the bases and avoid someone changing one little thing and filing for a new patent is an art. Make it too wide and it could get rejected.

There is support at the patent office for self filing, but a patent law expert is more likely to ensure you are fully protected so that you can really monetize your idea which is generally the whole point of a patent.

If you want to get some independent review of the idea, you could get a non disclosure form for anyone you reveal your idea to. But if they start contributing ideas and improvements you need good documentation on what rights they would or should not have. Good luck.

 

Jamie,
Give me a call or text, I’ve done it back before the internet, when you had to go to a patent library back in engineering school, and more recently when it’s much easier. I learned on the most recent one, automotive EV/Hybrid related, how little a patent means. Go watch Flash of Genius and decide how valuable your time is...

Not to discourage you but if it’s a great idea and new, spend your time and money to build it and bring it to market using the internet as your way to make it a success(this is the only way for a litttle guy to win with an invention). If it is, it’ll get copied in Asia no matter if you have a patent or not and sold for a fraction of what it’ll cost you. Or a big company will just build it as their own burying you in costs.

My last one I was offered an aftermarket deal with a former top exec of a very successful team partner but I couldn’t dedicate the time to it. So it sits in my files.

Tesla filed patents to show the world his creations and let everyone use them. Build it, document your moment of genius/conception and sell it to the world on the web... or at least at the “as seen on tv” shop on the Rez

 

Lol.... i built this with a piece of my kid's dollar store rc car and some crap off Amazon. Took me like 20 min to put it together. I'll holler at you tomorrow my red brother. Thanks for the advice.

 

I got a really simple idea to make stepladders safer, but not really sure if there's enough money in the idea to make it even worth the hassle of jumping all the hoops.

Anyone had any success contacting the honchos of a company like, say, Werner, show them your idea, and hope they give you a swag bag on the way out the door? Or is largess a quaint notion from the past?

https://www.wernerco.com/us/company/contact-us/submit-a-product-idea

 

I’ve invented a pizza slicer that can cut an infinite number of slices out of one pie. You can tell @Metalhead you ate a million slices of pizza. Cuts twice as much in Hawaii


All jokes aside:
a full utility patent is a piece of work. And costly.

you can get startet with a design patent. Cheaper. But not as useful for functions.

as mentioned: you have one year from going public with it to filing.

 

I have dealt with a couple of patents thru my work. We (the company) have a couple of patents. The oldest one we can't enforce because of the flood of cheap products on amazon and eBay. literally hundreds of fly by wire companies with copies of the product.

the two latest ones we will attempt to enforce if we find any copies. but so far nothing, which is good but we are just getting started on those.

A good patent will cost you close to $10k to file and have everything drawn up. As others mention you need a good patent lawyer. I have a few friends who are lawyers and they all said you need a patent person. Most of them have an engineering background, so they can understand what is unique about your patent and be able to draft up the technical details about what makes it unique.

Normally if you have a patent and someone want to get around it, they can go two routes- show how their product is different, or show that you should never have been issued the patent to start with. that's where having a good patent lawyer to start with helps, vs you trying to submit something on your own.

I've got a good company in the atlanta area if you need a referral. lots of rules and laws have changed in the past few years and I don't keep up with it, so best bet is to find a lawyer and see what they say.

 

Is that Mike G?

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