HEEEEELP

Bill, my last patent cost me $15K, but it did involve some hi-tech stuff. For a consumer type item like yours, I wouldn't worry about a patent, just produce the product and be happy.:))

IMHO, a patent is only useful to document the transfer of intellectual property in a sale. As far as protection, they are worthless unless you have the money to defend the patent in court.

DO NOT use one of those ''patent services'', they are a total rip off, and completely useless.
 
There is an excellent resource for prosecuting you own patent - probably available from your local library for free or from the source for about $40.

"Patent It Yourself" from Nolo Publishing - <http://www.nolo.com/products/patent-it-yourself-pat.html>

I used this resource in getting a patent a couple of years ago and it is wonderful. Truthfully, you may end up with a 'vanity' patent but the process itself, although a bit convoluted, is certainly doable by a non-attorney.

The provisional patent gives you a year to check on the commercial viability of the product and gives you instant 'patent pending' status.
 
I currently have a non-provisional design patent in process. I filed all my paperwork and drawings online and I'm at the examination stage. The total cost at this point has been $235. I filed for a micro organization exemption which cuts about 70% of the cost out. There is a wealth of information on the USPTO website and the only issue that I had was registering myself as a user in the USPTO system which allows me to check daily where my patent is in the process and to that end, I was on the phone for about an hour with the USPTO support group. After that the system works really well. If you need more information, you can PM me or contact me at theim@beltfedplus.com
 
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Bill the other thing is that you have to consider - what it is you wish to patent. Is it a design patent as in the shape / form, or a utility patent that is a novel idea, never been done before, or a neat feature or an extremely cost effective way of making something that if patented would cause others grief as a work around and could cost them more to manufacture.

Before we applied for a patent on what we were designing we had to to a search for any prior art to make sure that WE weren't violating some one else's patent as part of our planned design.

David
 
Number one you get hold of a patent Atty.
Number two you give him a whole bunch of money.
Three he fills out your application and sends it in
Four this seems to take forever before you hear back from the gov't
Five you get your patent, but while all this was taking place somebody came up with a better idea that is cheaper
Six absolutely nothing prevents anyone from copying your idea and using it except you going after them in a court of law
In my opinion not all things are worth getting a patent for.
 
gr8legs said:
There is an excellent resource for prosecuting you own patent - probably available from your local library for free or from the source for about $40.

"Patent It Yourself" from Nolo Publishing - <http://www.nolo.com/products/patent-it-yourself-pat.html>
Click to expand...

BeltFedPlus said:
I currently have a non-provisional design patent in process. I filed all my paperwork and drawings online and I'm at the examination stage. The total cost at this point has been $235. I filed for a micro organization exemption which cuts about 70% of the cost out. There is a wealth of information on the USPTO website and the only issue that I had was registering myself as a user in the USPTO system which allows me to check daily where my patent is in the process and to that end, I was on the phone for about an hour with the USPTO support group. After that the system works really well...
Click to expand...

Playing catch-up here, I just learned, by looking at that revised NOLO publication, that a recently passed "America Invents Act", implemented only last year, includes a new provision for a "Micro Entity" application, which cuts costs up to 75%. Well, that is certainly a game-changer. I may have to dust-off and review some old ideas.

http://www.uspto.gov/aia_implementation/fees.jsp
 
Bill,
Have a read up on Robert Kearns, inventor and patent holder of intermittent wipers for cars.

Cheers Phil
 
SG51Buss said:
Playing catch-up here, I just learned, by looking at that revised NOLO publication, that a recently passed "America Invents Act", implemented only last year, includes a new provision for a "Micro Entity" application, which cuts costs up to 75%. Well, that is certainly a game-changer. I may have to dust-off and review some old ideas.

http://www.uspto.gov/aia_implementation/fees.jsp
Click to expand...

The Micro Entity provision certainly is a game changer. As I mentioned in my previous post, I'm into a design patent for $235. This really puts inventing and patenting in the realm of the hobby machinist/inventor. The addition of the ability to file online brings down the cost as well and just makes it easier. I did all my drawings on blue line graph paper and scanned them in black and white which eliminates the blue lines and the drawings come out really nice. An additional thought about this process is that I spent nearly a year making tooling to produce a workable unit before I even started the patent process.
 
I have decided not to persue it. I used other designs to put it all together. Even though I improved on them, they still belong to someone else. Thank you all for the info I received.

"Billy G"
 
How appropriate that I get this email...

Please note that the company is based in India....:nervous:

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