Anyone patented anything?

[rikrobson]

There's two ways to look at this.
Either go down the Patent route and your product and hope that you can defent the patent, if anyone copies it. or sell it.
Or Don't patent it, but keep all the intellectual property to yourselves. That way the copycats will need to reverse engineer the product.

 

[Gwil]

Thanks again for all the good advice- I spent the day with them yesterday and they're really cooking with tweaks and sophistication of the design. We'll see where we go from here and how to put it in the marketplace.

 

[rikrobson]

As far as I understand the patent is for what you submit. if you subsequently change the way the patented item works, then the patent doen't cover the changed as its a different item and would need to be applied for again.

 

[jimi_boom]

Hi.
Probably just saying what other people have but I also used to work for a company and I too have managed to file a couple of patents over the years.
But here is what I have learnt.

1. where will the product be sold? if its main market is in the US then file there if its Europe then file there if its both then obviously the answer to that is both.

2. avoid trying to get a world wide patent as I don't believe these actually exist, you have to file in the individual patent offices and as said when it gets to the far east this wont get passed anyway.

3. its extremely expensive to file and to maintain so the best idea would be to find an investor and license your idea and make money that way.

I think the way the patent laws work has changed recently but my understanding is that if you have hard eveidence i.e note books that are dated and signed then that is enough to use as proof of ownership.
When I was a design engineer I used to sign and date every page of my logbook incase it was ever needed in a court of law.

but good luck and let us know how you get on.

 

[julianthegypsy]

I knew a guy years ago who wrote software for analysing oil wells. His main problem was oil companies buying one copy then copying it and using it everywhere, so he tailored it to each client and all the reports it printed off had the company name and oilfield at the top. You could change it, but if you did, the typeface on screen would change to the same colour as the screen so you couldn't see anything, then you'd get a little message suggesting you contact him to resolve the problem. Very simple he reckoned and very cheap.

 

[bump]

I knew a guy years ago who wrote software for analysing oil wells. His main problem was oil companies buying one copy then copying it and using it everywhere, so he tailored it to each client and all the reports it printed off had the company name and oilfield at the top. You could change it, but if you did, the typeface on screen would change to the same colour as the screen so you couldn't see anything, then you'd get a little message suggesting you contact him to resolve the problem. Very simple he reckoned and very cheap.

The better option would have a much more expensive corporate licence or a hosted service.

 

[julianthegypsy]

This was before the internet, and he did try the hosted service, if by that you mean you send him the data and he does the analysis?

 

[bump]

Ah pre internet, so not really what I was thinking.

 

[julianthegypsy]

Yes, this was in the days when programs were on 5 1/4" floppies, which were very easy to copy...

 

[bricol]

Patents are a really good way of finding out what the competition is doing - we have an entire department watching out for what ours are doing. And then you just need one subtle change, and you're free to do it yourself. So other than the kudos of the plaque on the wall, I'm not too sure what the benefits are.

You really do have to tie up every single possible version of what you are trying to patent - the slightest gap in the wording, and someone will drive a double decker bus through it.

 

[Pete.]

Doesn't anyone just put Pat Pending stickers on stuff nowadays?