Re: off topic : need patent help

I have a number of patents both using a patent attorney and doing it myself.
First of all I would recommend that you get the book "Patent It Yourself"
from Nolo Press. It is a great help in understanding the patenting process.


Some in this thread have said that a patent takes 5 years and lots of money.
That can be true. The delay in getting a patent is highly variable depending
on the subject of the patent. Patents in hotly contested areas like biotech
can take that long. Patents for mechanical devices can take 2 years of less.
The reason is that patent examiners specialize in certain areas. Examiners
in biotech are in short supply and in great demand hence long delays.


I have filed a number of patents for myself. I am not a trained patent attorney,
just an engineer with some ideas. The cost to do it myself is just the fees
listed on the patent office web site www.uspto.gov


It is actually a pretty simple process. Most of a patent is a narrative; explain your
idea and explain why it is different than any other patented idea or publicly
known idea. If you need drawings just use a drawing program. The above
book explains the requirements for the drawings, nothing too difficult.


The second part is the claims. They may seem difficult but the book
explains them well. They are just logic. There is a certain language that
describes the logic but to me, as a programmer, it is just like a computer
language. It is actually a pretty simple language with very few logical
constructs.


The claims are important in that that is where any legal battle will focus.
The book suggests that if you are uncomfortable with the claims that you
have written that you can have a patent attorney look at them. This will
be much cheaper than having him do the whole thing.


I had my patent examiner call me once about a problem with a claim that
I had written. I said something like "the user of my invention can do ...".\
This was unacceptable. Claims must not use conditional words like "can".
I suggested to the examiner that rewording the sentence with "is able to"
instead of "can" would fix the problem. He made the change in my claim
and issued the patent. Easy enough!


As they say, a patent is just a license to sue someone. As such they
are just a part of a successful endeavor. They can help protect a successful
product. The real trick is to make something that people will buy.
Attempting to license a patent that has not been tested
in the marketplace is extremely difficult.


Pete.

--- In CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@yahoogroups.com, "turbulatordude" <dave_mucha@...> wrote:
>
> Hi all,
>
> sorry for the off topic post.
>
> I have something I want to get patented.
> if anyone has any experiance they are willing to share, please contact me directly
>
> dave_mucha *at* yahoo *dot* com
>
> Thanks!
>