Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] O/T Patent applications

"Sven Peter, TAD S.A." wrote:

> No, but my father did, He now has the same comment
> about patents as one of my professors. Don't waste your time and money
> as long as you can't produce and sell the invention yourself.
> You start with 15.000 bucks and fight minimum 3 years,
> Meanwhile anybody can copy You or give You a tough time.

I had a business associate who used the patent process in an odd
manner. He would find the most oddball thing in a design to apply
for a patent on. His company developed a pocket-size instrument
that replaced a large suitcase-sized instrument. But, the circuitry
was not really novel, just taking advantage of miniaturization. So,
they found an unusual bracket for a component in it, and applied
for a patent on that bracket. Now, due to the secrecy of the patent
process, no one could find out what would be covered if the patent
was granted. It could be some small, inconsequential detail of the
design, or the entire concept of the instrument. No one could know
for sure. The possibility that the entire concept MIGHT be protected
by a future patent could scare off competitors big and small. When
the patent examiner looked like he was getting ready to issue a patent
on the bracket, he told the patent attorney "Oh NO! Don't let him do
that! Obfuscate! Ask for an expansion on the concpt covered!
Do something!" and so they were able to drag the thing out for another
year or more!

You hear these hard luck stories like the guy who invented the
intermittent wipers or the capillary blood sample tubes. They both
waited over 20 years after their patent was granted, litigating against
giant corporations all the way, to the tune of over one million $ a year
before reaching some sort of settlement. One of them died in the
interim, the other got cancer.

Jon