I have a question on patents.
At least over here, a patent should have some kind of novelty in it. at least not just the use of “prior knowledge”. It should not be published or performed before.
How is that in the USA. I see a lot of “patent applied for” notices on items or procedures where I think “I have seen that before” or just making simple use of materials long time available.
For instance this one:
http://www.sollercomposites.com/composites/avi.html
Can anyone comment?
Hi Herman,
I don’t exclude something else about this video; they appear the terms “patent pending” and there is no patent number, so they are still waiting for an approval …that, probably, will never come…
Probably they insert “patent pending” to convince not experts, that they are really selling something revolutionary …only a trivial attempt to marketing something.
But if they will be right, it remains few time to make tubes with carbion fiber sleeves for free…
It’s supposed to be unobvious to the average person skilled in the art.
It seems to be very subjective sometimes how “unobvious” something is.
The software field has it the worst. Amazon’s one-click is the poster child for this.
A provisional filing is a place holder. If someone filed a similar work, the first with a provisional filing would have it. It doesn’t mean much beyond that as far as I know.
I try to avoid our corporate patent meetings as they are boring usually. But what I have gleaned from them is that if you do have an original design and don’t apply for patents it will or CAN be you that gets sued for infringements.
Also…adding a patent allows you to get all rights and money in the event that a company wishes to add your design into their manufacturing .With your permission of course first.
International patents is not yet as perfect in control I’ve been told. Evidently China has been one of the worst offenders.
Also…applying for the patent isn’t nearly as expensive as actually paying for the final papers if accepted once they’ve reviewed an exhausting library of apps.
So I can apply a patent for the basic principle of, for instance, the wheel.
Will I get the patent? No idea. (in my opinion: no) but till that time I have fun, and car manufacturers might get nervous and throw money at me.
In the US, typical Patent Provisional filings start between $5,000.00-$15,000.00 and upwards depending upon the complexity to describe both the verbiage and drawing details.
The less effort to describe…the easier it is for a competitor to over describe and bump your technology aside.-(as in in…no patent)
There is a lot that goes into it.
There is a difference between Europe and US. In Europe it works be the princip first to file and in the US it is first to invent.