Any legal types here?

[sleek]

Specifically in the patent and business development area? I have something I have been working on for a few years and am ready to finally do something with it.

[Eric Krewson]

From what little I know I think you have to pay a fee every year to keep your patent current, the figure $200 comes to mind.

The old lady that invented the Fugit Spinner let her patent lapse because there was no interest at the time and she felt no need to continue paying the fee, someone else took it over and made a gazillion dollars off the idea.

I never felt the need to patent my tillering gizmo idea although it could be done, I just didn't want the hassle.

[mmattockx]

I am not a patent lawyer but I am an engineer who has a patent and has been through the process. My thoughts are:

1) A patent is often useless and always expensive to get. All it does is give you the right to sue a company that is infringing on your patent. If you don't have very deep pockets and the resources to take on a big corporation then you will just get buried in the courts and have nothing to show for it. If your goal is to obtain the patent and then sell it to a company that can be worthwhile, depending on how much money is involved.

2) Be sure your idea has not been done before. If it is prior art in an industry or something that is a reasonably obvious development off existing practice or technology you won't be able to patent it in the first place. This sounds dumb, but people have been clever for a very long time and it is astonishing the things that have been patented in the past.

3) If it is something you plan to make and sell you are often much better off to just make it and get a jump on competitors in the market by establishing yourself as first out of the gate and build your product reputation before others get established. Trade secrets are very often more effective than a patent at protecting your market and ideas.


Mark