Anyone patented anything?

[Gwil]

I've got a pal and his colleague who've put together a piece of electronic test gear which currently isn't available anywhere. It's fiendishly clever and very adaptable.

Advice from the Patent Office is that they should seek at least a European patent- worldwide is horribly expensive and the bleedin' Chinese will copy it with impunity!

Anyone used a good patent lawyer or have any advice? I'm doing the spadework because my pal is very dyslexic, his colleague is Portuguese, and we'll go through the process in the Uk, and finally because they're two incredibly bright hard working blokes who deserve some success from this.

 

[roofman]

PM me the full details and ile have a good look at it. Joking aside and ime no expert but as soon as it appears with a worldwide patent or not its going to be copied in some form and unless you have vast amounts of cash for a legal fight then you will be trodden into the dirt... My advice and its only worth a pound of bananas is get your friends to patent it and sell the idea to a company outright or let them make under licence.

 

[TechnicAl]

I was employed by a very large company who patented everything that could be. They also have a very large legal department that spent a lot of time enforcing the patents and defending claims from other patent holders.
Im no legal expert but from what Ive seen the patent is hardly worth the paper its written on unless you have the legal force behind you, and thats expensive.

I know of one example where there was an obvious infringement but the legal costs to take them to court were too high.

Its a very difficult decision

In the UK there are Government funded schemes and support for Innovation. People are available to help you through the paperwork or to transform an idea into a product and manufacture that product.

 

[waddycall]

Just had a patent granted at work five years after the application went in. We used Wither&Rogers to do the worK. There is a lot of to-ing and fro-ing as results of searches come in and the claims of the patent are tweaked accordingly. It's very long winded and best dealt with by someone who knows the game. The documents are written in a bizarre wordy style and are really hard work to read! Good luck with it!

 

[Wendelspanswick]

I used to work for a company that developed high speed comms equipment and their philosophy was to get their kit into the market ASAP before anyone else got the jump on them and try to maximise your market before the competition caught up. The inevitable will happen and someone will pinch your idea and produce it cheaper but you need to maximise your profits before that happens.

 

[Shox Dr]

I was once told a Patent is only worth the money you spend defending it. Wise words I think.

 

[gaz1]

you could go with all of the above but as has been explained no copyright is safe

however you could go the exact opposite and release it for everyone to use the one thing in that way is there names are spread by your free design thats freely given for everyone to use

 

[Shox Dr]

you could go with all of the above but as has been explained no copyright is safe

however you could go the exact opposite and release it for everyone to use the one thing in that way is there names are spread by your free design thats freely given for everyone to use

Doesn't pay the bills though

 

[arthur]

I used to work for a guy who ran a patent company, he did patents and I used to build his kit cars lol


I know, not much help haha.. His name was Nigel Brooks.

And a quick Google shows he's still alive and well..
http://www.nbpat.co.uk

 

[rtbcomp]

Hulse & Co in Sheffield are another firm of Patent Lawyers. I used to do quite a lot of computer work for them, decent guys.

If it's electronic follow the example of another guy I knew, put a deliberately blown component in it such that if someone tries to reverse engineer it a good component will cause it not to work, or to give false readings and so on..

 

[Robotstar5]

I had some patent leather shoes...


I'll get me coat

 

[Jrstainless]

Isn't there such thing as a poor mans patent. From what I heard you take detailed photos, measurements, video (all the detail you can)
Then you seal it all up and post it to yourself. Then it will have a postal date on it. You then keep it for the future ( unopened ) in case of claims etc.
I don't know if this is any good just what I was told.

 

[Seadog]

I think a common notion these days is to post the design on the web. You then have proof of intellectual property from that date.

 

[roofman]

I think a common notion these days is to post the design on the web. You then have proof of intellectual property from that date.

Is that like holding someone famous and sending a ransom note with todays newspaper...proves you held the person but does,nt prove you left the body in a pit full of snakes.

 

[rtbcomp]

Isn't there such thing as a poor mans patent. From what I heard you take detailed photos, measurements, video (all the detail you can)
Then you seal it all up and post it to yourself. Then it will have a postal date on it. You then keep it for the future ( unopened ) in case of claims etc.
I don't know if this is any good just what I was told.

Maybe, but if you're a poor man you can't afford to defend the patent. It's not like music, art, photographs or literature where you have an automatic copyright. You could try putting the design to music I suppose.

 

[Gwil]

Some interesting stuff! I'll keep you all posted....and thanks. These guys deserve it.

 

[Shox Dr]

An interesting side note; IBM were searching and repatenting so many documents a day they built a freely available (at the time) datatbase. I cant find it now

 

[Kent]

It's true you need to defend your patient and it costs! I have details of a company that help out with design protection some place will see if I can root it out

If it's not big money and you haven't got the backing to defend it consider intellectual property offers at least something for little. Full copyright unfortunately will rip all the money out of most things and what might remain will go in enforcement

 

[wristpin]

Not sure whether this has any relevance ?
https://www.gov.uk/register-a-design/check-if-you-can-register-your-design

 

[tomsutton529]

Hulse & Co in Sheffield are another firm of Patent Lawyers. I used to do quite a lot of computer work for them, decent guys.

If it's electronic follow the example of another guy I knew, put a deliberately blown component in it such that if someone tries to reverse engineer it a good component will cause it not to work, or to give false readings and so on..

that does work. One my tutors at college was fighting a case in court, the gernal jist of it was a mould for injection moulding pastics. someone coppied his design to the smallest detail, my tutpr was able to prove at the last minute that there was a small flaw in his desgin that he put there on purpose, and low and behold then mould that the other chap had done had the same flaw.. My tutor won.

Isn't there such thing as a poor mans patent. From what I heard you take detailed photos, measurements, video (all the detail you can)
Then you seal it all up and post it to yourself. Then it will have a postal date on it. You then keep it for the future ( unopened ) in case of claims etc.
I don't know if this is any good just what I was told.

the cheapskates of the music industry do the same thing. they record a CD, post it to themselves and leave it unopend. after talking a few of the big boys over the years it wouldnt stand a chance in court, even though it sounds quite fool proof.