upfrombottom
Well-known member
Just wondering if anyone on CT has ever filed for a patent. I am in the process of filing for nine different patents. Boy, what a headache. Makes me wonder if its even worth the effort.
Filing For a Patent
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jkwilson
Well-known member
Most of the time it's not worth the effort. If the idea is good, somebody with deep pockets will just drag it through the courts until you run out of money. Unless the patent is prepared by an experienced attorney, the high-dollar attornies on the other side will blow it out of the water in court. :(
OP
OP
upfrombottom
Well-known member
I have a close friend that filed for one last year. He hired a patent attorney and the attorney cost 10 grand, not counting all the other cost involved. I wondered if I would be just better off just making the things and selling them off the tail gate somewhere.
jkwilson
Well-known member
It really depends on what it is. The MBAs would do a market analysis to figure out what size the market is.
Say you came up with a new castration tool. Your potential market is the number of folks who do their own castrations plus vets. Figure what you can make it for, what you can sell it for, and you have your potential profit. If it's a small market, there may not be anybody else interested, and the cost of the patent may not be worth the potential income. If the most you could make is $40,000, the $10-15,000 for the patent might be a waste.
Say you came up with a new castration tool. Your potential market is the number of folks who do their own castrations plus vets. Figure what you can make it for, what you can sell it for, and you have your potential profit. If it's a small market, there may not be anybody else interested, and the cost of the patent may not be worth the potential income. If the most you could make is $40,000, the $10-15,000 for the patent might be a waste.
HOSS
Well-known member
I do it all the time. I use a patent attorney. As down on lawyers as I am I think these guys are worth their weight when it comes to this stuff. If you need a good patent attorney PM me and I will send his info.
marksmu
Well-known member
My wife is a patent attorney - they are not your typical lawyers - they are a breed above - they have to have a science or engineering degree to be able to work in front of the PTO (unless they worked for the PTO for 2+ years as a patent agent).
That said - the advice above is correct. If the idea is actually a good one that you can forsee being highly profitable - the only way to go is a very well written extremely broad patent that claims every single conceivable use of the item, and its improvements. The trick is to be as broad as possible but still be concise enough to get the patent issued. Patent agents (I know several) would much rather deny than grant. They have to get approval to grant, but denial is easy and takes no reports or time. Just a letter to you. It takes them days longer to grant so they will almost always deny initially. They are required to write an approval report when they grant, and then it requires supervisor action - so you can be sure the denial is the initial response. Be prepared to spend the money on the clarification.
If the idea makes money you can be sure that someone will try to challenge it. Patent cases cost a fortune to defend - so the idea has to be worth it. You need to spend the money up front on a WELL WRITTEN patent that will hold up to a challenge. You dont get your money back if the patent is later invalidated.
My wife works for a big firm and is not cheap, but they are good. If you need help, she can point you in the right direction....
That said - the advice above is correct. If the idea is actually a good one that you can forsee being highly profitable - the only way to go is a very well written extremely broad patent that claims every single conceivable use of the item, and its improvements. The trick is to be as broad as possible but still be concise enough to get the patent issued. Patent agents (I know several) would much rather deny than grant. They have to get approval to grant, but denial is easy and takes no reports or time. Just a letter to you. It takes them days longer to grant so they will almost always deny initially. They are required to write an approval report when they grant, and then it requires supervisor action - so you can be sure the denial is the initial response. Be prepared to spend the money on the clarification.
If the idea makes money you can be sure that someone will try to challenge it. Patent cases cost a fortune to defend - so the idea has to be worth it. You need to spend the money up front on a WELL WRITTEN patent that will hold up to a challenge. You dont get your money back if the patent is later invalidated.
My wife works for a big firm and is not cheap, but they are good. If you need help, she can point you in the right direction....
chrisy
Well-known member
The rigmarole you have to go through over here turned me off, and once I had my Copyright stollen before I had it up and running, that was an other matter. Long and lengthy proceedure to prove, and if the other side has oodles of cash your done for, as I found out. Be careful as you can get your fingers burnt.
FarmGirl10
Well-known member
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- Jun 26, 2007
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Make sure you file for it. The family of the guy that patented the three point hitch live in the area i grew up in. Knowing how that turned out for them, I'd say its worth the effort. :nod:
