Ever patent anything?

[Florida]

Instead of drinking and using nicotine I now stay up all night tinkering with stuff. I have designed and fabricated several boating accessories that are novel and useful. Friends are saying I should patent these things. Here is the question, is it worth it to patent these inventions? None of them would sell for more than 19.99. I have a feeling that it isn?t worth it, someone will modify the design, cheapen the product and sell in mass. I then would have to pay a lawyer to defend the patent in court. In the end I think the lawyers would be the only who benefited. What would you do?

 

[scipper77]

Re: Ever patent anything?

File a patent disclosure. This way if the idea takes off you have a record that the idea was originally yours. If someone steals your idea and it never makes it to be patented they win. But, if the idea takes off and you decide to complete the patent process you will be rich.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Ever patent anything?

I have patents that are in process. Unfortuantely, my company owns their rights.

By the way, it costs a lot of money to get a patent filed that has a chance of being approved and thats for just here in the US. For a lot of things its not worth it. The Chinese will copy it anyway. Mine is for a circuit design that is embedded in a chip so not likely going to get copied.

 

[Fireman431]

Re: Ever patent anything?

If you do start the patent disclosure process, it's my understanding that you can sell the product with a 'patent pending' designation. This won't stop the Chinese (if it truly makes it that far), but it will stop most US production people. If they do copy you, you file a 'cease & desist' motion with an attorney.

I would look into it deeper. I lost my possibilities of production on patent because I didn't follow through. Like you, I though it would be too much of a hassle. Now another company is making my invention and I have nothing to show for it but series of spec'd drawings and production plans.

 

[scipper77]

Re: Ever patent anything?

The reason I suggested filing a patent disclosure is because it shows that you came up with the idea. If you do nothing and someone else files a patent disclosure they basically own your idea. It's all about who can legally show that the idea was theirs.

 

[scipper77]

Re: Ever patent anything?

I hold a couple myself and in truth they are little more than a license to sue. The question you have to ask yourself is do you believe your idea is of high enough value to invest first in the patent (not cheap by any stretch) and then to bring a suit to defend it. In most cases any "widget" can be modified, improved, cheapened easily so as not to violate the patent.

All of that is in the US of course, if you want an international patent get ready to spend HUGE piles of cash.

If the core idea is not changed than tweaking an idea to get around a patent is as you described, a lawsuit waiting to happen. But if you have rights to a patent, even in the form of a patent disclosure you can sell those rights to a company with the resources to profit from your idea. You won't likely get rich this way because no company wants to buy rights to an idea and give up there profits to the inventor.

Even if you sell your idea you will need to shell out $$ for a lawyer.

 

[jkust]

Re: Ever patent anything?

My grandfather was an inventor working for himself many years back. He got royally screwed on most of his inventions. Some of the big ones were the Playtex Nurser baby bottle (Its the bottle with the plaxtic bag inside it and everytime I see one I still cringe), the drain snake as well as the car wash gun, the old tops they used to use on a thermos bottle and many more. He had an 8th grade education and was one of the smartest people you'd ever encounter. This goes back a long time ago as he was a first generation Greek Immigrant. We still have most of the patents.

 

[levittownnick]

Re: Ever patent anything?

The selling price is only a part of the equasion, how many is sold is annother part. As far as changing a small detail and producing the item, a good patent lawyer would cover those points in the patent application. The down side is that good lawyers don't come cheap.
Tough decision, speak to a patent attorney and see what you have to gain.

Good luck

 

[jeeperman]

Re: Ever patent anything?

It all boils down to how much are you willing to spend to defend your patent.
You can be right as rain and have a crystal clear no-question patent.

But if your not willing to spend the bucks defending it, the patent is worthless.

The Patent Office nor any other entity is going to make any effort to insure that your patent rights are not infringed upon.

 

[scipper77]

Re: Ever patent anything?

Yes, a law suit where you have to prove that YOU didn't simply improve something that existed before (prior art) and requires a vast pile of cash to wage a court battle for years.

Sure, you "might" come out on top, if your product is worth huge money to begin with. You might be able to sell the patent, "IF" the buyer agrees its worth the legal hassles.

I've been through a patent case (not my patent, I was the outside "expert" to establish prior art.) and I was amazed at the cost and how long it dragged out only to have the patent tossed based on prior art.

My father used to work for a company that was developing a new technology that would have been bad news for the 3M corporation. Since it was a small company 3M bought the company just for the patent rights. I guess they never did anything with the patents. The technology would not have helped them after they owned it (no new customers), but could have hurt them if someone else finished developing the technology (taken customers away).

From what I remember it was something to do with how to back-light an LCD display.

 

[tommays]

Re: Ever patent anything?

If you want to see how it works Google Festo VS SMC

Festo is one the worlds largest pneumatic companys and made a great new type of magnetically coupled air cylinder and did all the Patent stuff right

SMC did a knockoff and Festo put ALL its vast resources into defending its product and LOST at the US Supreme Court level forever changing patent law

 

[Fireman431]

Re: Ever patent anything?

I have an idea. Why don't you just send me ALL the information you have on this invention and I'll look it over for you and determine if it's worthwhile!

 

[Bigprairie1]

Re: Ever patent anything?

If you want to see how it works Google Festo VS SMC

Festo is one the worlds largest pneumatic companys and made a great new type of magnetically coupled air cylinder and did all the Patent stuff right

SMC did a knockoff and Festo put ALL its vast resources into defending its product and LOST at the US Supreme Court level forever changing patent law

Well, I have a couple of successful patents...the bad news is that the company I work for owns them, as per our contractual agreement. The upside is that it had other benefits.
As for the products Tommays mentioned here...I don't know about this law suit, but I found it funny because I have bought and used this product from these suppliers....interesting stuff.
BP

 

[Treager]

Re: Ever patent anything?

What you really have to decide is if the cost of the patent going to be worth it over the long haul?
The marine industry is pretty competitive, so it may be worth it. If it is truly novel and you think that it will sell 50,000+ units per year and maintain that for a few years, a utility patent (can cost over $10K) would be the way to go. (There are a lot of design patents out there, but they are difficult to defend). You really need to do a market analysis and determine how many could be sold.

One of the first things I would recommend doing is conducting your own patent search to determine if there is any prior art. You can do this at the USPTO website, but I also like using http://www.freepatentsonline.com/
Another resource I like to use is http://ipwatchdog.com/

At a minimum, I would file a provisional patent application (as stated above) and you can use the "Patent Pending" designation. You will then have a year to reduce your idea to practice before going on to the next step (non-provisional application). Once you file the provisional, you can then start presenting to companies to see if they're willing to take it on. (I would have them sign a confidentiality agreement first even if you have Patent Pending designation). Given the economy, I don't know if companies will be making any tooling investments, so you may not have much luck.