Since my last post I spent a couple of hours reviewing my notes and reading about the patent fees on the US Patent Office website. http://www.uspto.gov/
The process of getting a patent is not only daunting but expensive too. The steps that have to be followed, the people that need to get involved (lawyer, agent, etc.) as well as the fee structure (application fee, issuance fee, and maintenance fees); no wonder there are so many companies out there to make a quick buck off of unsuspecting people.
Who do you trust?
In my gmail account home page I had an advertisement for a Patent Lawyer/agent that was placed there by Google. Placed there by the Google Machine (crawlers, algorithms, see earlier post http://thislittleideawenttomarket.blogspot.com/2010/06/crawlers-are-everywhere.html ) that had identified that I am interested in patents and inventions. I clicked on the advertisement and did a search of the lawyers name with “complaint” in the search engine (used Google) and low and behold this lawyer has already had over 29 complaints (and counting) ruled against him by the patent office. Things like charging outrageous fees, signing powers of attorney for the clients, and misrepresentation. Thanks Google for leading me in the wrong direction, I guess all is ok as long as the lawyer’s check clears the Google bank.
Showing posts with label law. Show all posts
Showing posts with label law. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Road Map
A map is nothing more than detailed directions on how to get from point A to point B. If you have ever used MapQuest or a GPS you know that there is a multitude of ways to navigate from one place to another. You can change your preferences to go by certain landmarks or to avoid certain roads. With each new request you get a new map, a new set of directions.
Today I start with an idea and want to get it to market. There are no landmarks I want to see or heavily trafficked areas I want to avoid (not yet anyway). The good thing about directions is you can change them along the way to suit your needs. If you are driving down the road and you see a sign for the World’s Largest Ball of Twine, you can go. After you are done analyzing the string you can double back or just get new directions. This will be my approach.
Idea > Record Idea > Patent Idea > Manufacture Widget > Market Widget > Sell Widget
When I was a child my parents had bought some land in Kentucky. This land was well off the beaten path. We stopped at the local market to ask for directions where I could hear the locals saying things like “turn right at the big oak tree” or “it’s about 10 miles as the crow flies”. I am sure these were great directions if you grew up in this community (or if you were a crow), but they were not so good if you did not.
My point! I know nothing about patent law, patents, intellectual property, marketing an idea, manufacturing, getting something to market, etc. Not yet anyway. Your input will be welcomed.
Thanks!
Today I start with an idea and want to get it to market. There are no landmarks I want to see or heavily trafficked areas I want to avoid (not yet anyway). The good thing about directions is you can change them along the way to suit your needs. If you are driving down the road and you see a sign for the World’s Largest Ball of Twine, you can go. After you are done analyzing the string you can double back or just get new directions. This will be my approach.
Idea > Record Idea > Patent Idea > Manufacture Widget > Market Widget > Sell Widget
When I was a child my parents had bought some land in Kentucky. This land was well off the beaten path. We stopped at the local market to ask for directions where I could hear the locals saying things like “turn right at the big oak tree” or “it’s about 10 miles as the crow flies”. I am sure these were great directions if you grew up in this community (or if you were a crow), but they were not so good if you did not.
My point! I know nothing about patent law, patents, intellectual property, marketing an idea, manufacturing, getting something to market, etc. Not yet anyway. Your input will be welcomed.
Thanks!
Monday, June 21, 2010
Call for Help!
Call for Help
Wow! I started to research how much his proposition will cost. Everything costs money! To apply for a patent costs money. To hire a patent lawyer costs money. To buy the stuff I need to turn my idea into a widget for proof of conception costs money.
‘Money, Money everywhere but not a dime to spend.’
My goal is to do this without having to ask for money or investing money I do not have. So I need your help!
Please click on the advertisements to help this idea along to market. It will take a little bit of your time, however when you see this idea make it to market you can tell people that you helped get it there. I am not saying that you have to buy anything (unless you want to) but each time you click on one of the advertisements my idea gets a little more money to help it get to market. How much? Not much, mere pennies, but every little bit helps. Together we can all do it. Thanks!
Wow! I started to research how much his proposition will cost. Everything costs money! To apply for a patent costs money. To hire a patent lawyer costs money. To buy the stuff I need to turn my idea into a widget for proof of conception costs money.
‘Money, Money everywhere but not a dime to spend.’
My goal is to do this without having to ask for money or investing money I do not have. So I need your help!
Please click on the advertisements to help this idea along to market. It will take a little bit of your time, however when you see this idea make it to market you can tell people that you helped get it there. I am not saying that you have to buy anything (unless you want to) but each time you click on one of the advertisements my idea gets a little more money to help it get to market. How much? Not much, mere pennies, but every little bit helps. Together we can all do it. Thanks!
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Engineer Process
I am an engineer so I need to make the chaos work in my world. I know what I have (an idea) and I know where I want to go (to market). So I am going to use an engineer’s solution process to make this work
Given:
Find:
Assumptions:
References:
Solution:
The Given here is my idea, or any idea. The Find is Marketable Goods, with the Solution being the path or my Road Map.
Assumptions are used by the engineer to simplify a problem. If I was calculating the weight of a 2000 linear feet wall, I could look at a one foot slice of that wall and then multiply it out at the end. This would be an assumption that the wall is similar throughout the 2000 feet. A common assumption that I make every day is that is reinforced concrete weighs 155 pounds per cubic foot the actual weight could be a little less or a little more, but when doing calculations on a building or foundation this assumption suffices. If it was discovered later that the reinforcement steel was going to be much more, the calculation could easily be redone by changing the assumption.
The first assumption that I am going to make for this project is that my idea is a great one and it will sell. Will it? I do not know, only time will tell. I could spend years and lots of money trying to figure this out and never proceed any further. At some point I do have to fill in an answer for this assumption, I will need to know if my idea is marketable, but I can figure that out later.
References for an engineer may be a design standard, test method or building code; for this project it will most likely be patent law, the USPTO and others.
So I plan on breaking the solution (Road Map) into smaller problems each with their own assumptions, and references then reconstruct the whole package back together at the end.
Given:
Find:
Assumptions:
References:
Solution:
The Given here is my idea, or any idea. The Find is Marketable Goods, with the Solution being the path or my Road Map.
Assumptions are used by the engineer to simplify a problem. If I was calculating the weight of a 2000 linear feet wall, I could look at a one foot slice of that wall and then multiply it out at the end. This would be an assumption that the wall is similar throughout the 2000 feet. A common assumption that I make every day is that is reinforced concrete weighs 155 pounds per cubic foot the actual weight could be a little less or a little more, but when doing calculations on a building or foundation this assumption suffices. If it was discovered later that the reinforcement steel was going to be much more, the calculation could easily be redone by changing the assumption.
The first assumption that I am going to make for this project is that my idea is a great one and it will sell. Will it? I do not know, only time will tell. I could spend years and lots of money trying to figure this out and never proceed any further. At some point I do have to fill in an answer for this assumption, I will need to know if my idea is marketable, but I can figure that out later.
References for an engineer may be a design standard, test method or building code; for this project it will most likely be patent law, the USPTO and others.
So I plan on breaking the solution (Road Map) into smaller problems each with their own assumptions, and references then reconstruct the whole package back together at the end.
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