Any of you guys ever gotten a patent for something? I’ve got an idea for a product that doesn’t seem to exist anywhere. I’ve done an initial, somewhat cursory search through the Patent Office web site & not found anything quite like it. I’d love to tell you about it but… Unfortunately I only have the idea and can’t actually assemble the thing. It involves electronics & is simply out of my field as far as that goes. Any thoughts out there?
Al
Replies
Hi Al
Talk to Larry, I think that he is the resident patent expert.
Hopefully Larry isn't here anymore.
Enough said on him.
What Jet said.
Andy Engel, The Accidental Moderator
Al -- Patents have their place, but many times us "little guys" can make and build something, and actually turn a profit, with little need for a patent. By the time a big company comes along and wants to produce something "cheaper, better, smaller" they will have some engineers working on reverse engineering the product... but best to move on to another project! No big "wind falls" for me, but lots of small projects that keep me happy and produce a little income.
For the devil's advocate... Don Lancaster has a good talk about the "flip side" of patents. You can find his rambles here: http://www.tinaja.com/patnt01.html
A friend needed an adapter made for his home brew beer machine. Small item, took about two hours on the lathe to make it, more than glad to accept beer in trade! A friend of his, at the brew supply store, asked if I could make up 100 of those. No, too time consuming for me... so he borrowed the prototype. Well, there are now 1000's of those produced out of some type of injected nylon... all with my funny tooling mark on it! I think I should have gotten a bottle of beer for each produced, but happy to the case of beer I did get.
Tom
The experiences of individuals I've seen suggest pursuing a patent is not very helpful. Except as an ego thing. As Tom says, if a big firm wants the concept, they can often get around your patent. Consider the off-brand microprocessors. Look alike and work-alike to the original Intel one, but avoids the patent and copy right protection.
And, if it is a really valuable idea without any way around it, you spend a lot of time in court enforcing your patent rights against firms that have more money thna you do. I friend who help write THE biggest selling computer prgoram for doing higher mathmematics spent a lot of not-fun time and lots of money to get his royalities.
If you've got something on the level of the laser or transitor, go for it. Otherwise, I thing is more enjoyable to keep coming up with new ideas.
David Thomas Overlooking Cook Inlet in Kenai, Alaska