I have a couple ideas that I think are very patentable and think they are pretty good. Are any of the websites legit? On my own I don't know if I would ever spend the money on the process, but I'd happily pay some part of it and sign away the majority of the rights if there are any services to help with the process.

Has anyone submitted a patent on their own? Did you use an online service or local counsel? I've been looking for prior art and searching patents for a couple weeks and don't see anything that does what my idea does. I have a tiny bit of experience with a business process patent at a previous job, but I've never attempted anything on my own.

Edit: I also talked to an attorney family member, who admittedly is not a patent attorney but did study it some in law school, but he thought it was patentable too

[Edited on November 10, 2012 at 1:20 PM. Reason : .]

11/10/2012 1:17:02 PM

Just tell me your ideas and I'll get back to you

11/10/2012 1:18:16 PM

$5-10k is what any reputable patent attorney will charge for a basic utility patent.

But you cannot patent an idea. You can only get a utility patent after you have proven the idea works either through a prototype or highly specific description of using accepted and commonplace processes and equipment to realize the claimed utility.

And unless you can license it, or you're going to retain a team of lawyers to go after people who don't, its just going to be a complete waste of money.

11/10/2012 1:24:00 PM

One of them is pretty well described, that's what I had my cousin review. I

11/10/2012 1:38:13 PM

$5-10k is what any reputable patent attorney will charge for a basic utility patent.

But you cannot patent an idea. You can only get a utility patent after you have proven the idea works either through a prototype or highly specific description of using accepted and commonplace processes and equipment to realize the claimed utility.

And unless you can license it, or you're going to retain a team of lawyers to go after people who don't, its just going to be a complete waste of money.©®

11/10/2012 7:03:39 PM

its not a patent and prob wouldn't hold up in court, but if you don't have anything built and they are just ideas, write everything down as detailed as you possibly can, like everythign you can think of. Designs, drawings, materials needed, etc. and put the papers in an envelope and seal it. Mail the envelope to yourself. I'd suggest putting into a fedex envelope then sending it registered and signature required. When you get the package back, don't open it, leave it sealed, put it in a bank box and hold onto it. keep it safe.

that way, while ur trying to put things together for an actual patent, if someone else binks you, you have some way of showing you had teh ideas before them.


again, no clue if it works, but at least its a paper trail and has a date/time stamp on it

11/10/2012 7:39:34 PM

I suggest that if you draft your own claims (as opposed to an attorney), just look at typical claim language in existing patents.

some of the stuff that gets submitted by Pro Se's is hardly understandable

11/10/2012 7:43:42 PM

^^ Isn't the US first-to-file not first-to-invent?

11/10/2012 10:45:34 PM

http://www.uspto.gov/aia_implementation/aia-effective-dates.pdf

11/10/2012 10:56:04 PM

^^^^ that's for copyrights, not patents.

And copyrights are implied on the creation of anything, all the envelope trick does is make it easier to prove, theoretically, that you created something first, but any piece of evidence that you were first works, including witness testimony.



[Edited on November 10, 2012 at 11:07 PM. Reason : ]

11/10/2012 11:05:04 PM

lol@ the "poor man's copyright" esp. in a patent thread

11/11/2012 9:06:49 PM

Mailing it to myself would just get me an envelope

I do have a quote for patent and prior art research. I haven't found anything myself but am obviously not as experienced at it. I've also talked to them about drafting my own documents and having them review and help defend.

11/11/2012 9:15:31 PM

Quote :

"But you cannot patent an idea. You can only get a utility patent after you have proven the idea works either through a prototype or highly specific description of using accepted and commonplace processes and equipment to realize the claimed utility."

*cough couch* rounded corners

11/11/2012 9:27:52 PM

That's a design patent, much more narrow.

The US is first to file now.

Get a patent agent or a patent attorney or at least a company that does this sort of thing to check things out for you and get a draft going. You'll likely get stomped if you do it yourself.

11/12/2012 3:58:26 PM

this thread almost contains the correct advice

11/13/2012 7:08:23 AM

Update: "partnered" with someone to try to develop something (i.e. i gave the guy who helped with the high-level planning almost all of the rights to any future profits, he wanted to run with it a little and see if he thinks he can do anything with it)

12/19/2012 10:21:55 AM

^Very smart approach. Getting a small cut of something for doing almost no work is usually a pretty good deal

12/19/2012 2:00:53 PM

paging TheBullDoza

12/19/2012 3:36:04 PM

i have a family member who is a patent lawyer

12/19/2012 10:07:23 PM

Quote :

"$5-10k is what any reputable patent attorney will charge for a basic utility patent."

more like 50-75k in the tech sector and 4-8 year process

12/20/2012 12:38:48 AM

Well I originally just wanted help with the patent search and help looking for prior art, my quote was nowhere near that scale.

I don't think we will pursue a patent, if anything it would just be a provisional application for now to buy some time to decide if its worth the investment for a patent. My feeling now after consulting some people is that it would probably not be worth it since this is in a field that moves pretty fast, but he is the majority owner now so its up to him.

12/20/2012 9:55:36 AM

Quote :

" more like 50-75k in the tech sector and 4-8 year process"

Buuuulllllshit. I go through the process once twice a year usually. If you are paying that much, you're getting screwed. It can definitely take years for approval (I'm still waiting on approval for a couple of mine from 2009), but that rarely adds anything to the cost.

If a patent takes that long and costs that much its because there are problems with the patent, its being contested by others or its too weak to pass.

12/22/2012 11:22:35 AM

We finally got ours through but it took 7 years and I'm sure it was contested by a lot of other players in the field, specifically netapp, vmware, etc. It /could/ be fairly disruptive in the virtualization space if we ever trolled on it. For now it's just a plaque. Maybe mine was an atypical case but we had a similar story at a medical device company I worked at before that.

12/22/2012 12:03:15 PM

^^ Agreed. $5-10k is the figure my patent attorney friend always quotes

12/22/2012 4:21:52 PM