Crazy Patents: Inventions That By no means Created it

Research Your Idea

Before applying for patent assistance worldwide, check the United States Patent and Trademark's website to do a basic search for your idea. Searching for patents for ideas can save you valuable time and money in the long run if you can find someone else has thought of the concept or invention first.

Decide If The Idea Is Marketable

Once you've determined that no one else has applied for your idea, it's time to sit down and critically look at the idea and decide if it's a marketable invention. Ensure you've documented your invention on the off chance someone tries to steal your idea.

If your idea has passed the marketing test, it's time to create a prototype and test it. No matter what idea you're working on, the sample is a vital part for applying for patent assistance worldwide.

Only after researching your idea, its marketability and creating a prototype should you attempt to receive patents for ideas and inventions.

The Steps to Take Before Obtaining Patents For Ideas and Inventions

Selling And Shopping for Patents On the net

-- Why NDA's are only binding if there is a paper trail

-- What legal differences exist between patents and NDA's

-- How to get patent protection for as little as $110

What is a Patent?

A patent is a piece of paper.

Patents represent rock-solid proof of ownership of an idea. Just go to the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Fill out the patent application. The Patent is one way. An NDA is another. But an NDA is nowhere near as powerful as a patent.

Whereas a patent is a federal document proving ownership of an idea, an NDA is simply a contract between two people. A patent, of course.

Patents provide proof that you own the idea entirely. Otherwise, you could be looking at legal action from the owner of the patent who feels you are violating laws that prevent you from trying to resell a nearly-same product on that patent.When you buy and sell patents online, you will want to work with a registered patent attorney. This helps when large corporations are taking on individual patent holders. The only problem is that many patent holders are looking to sell their patents at less than $1000 wholesale. So check out buying and selling patents online.

Trade Secrets vs. Patents

This important decision means that there is now a new method by which patent examiners will assess whether or not an invention is patentable. The decision is especially relevant to those wishing to patent 'business methods' or 'computer programs'.

A patent is effectively a legal monopoly for a process or product. When granted a patent, the patent holder will be exclusively allowed to exploit a patented product or process for the life of the patent. When a patent is applied for, the patent examiners must ensure that the product or process which is the subject matter of the patent application meets the test for patentability.

Background: The issue arising in Aerotel Ltd v Telco Holdings Ltd [2006] relates to the patent of a business method. Aerotel believed that Telco had infringed their patent, and sued them. Telco counterclaimed to have Aerotel's patent revoked. Aerotel had their patent revoked by summary judgment on 3 May 2006.

In Macrossan's Application [2006], they applied for a UK patent for a computer program. In the initial application, the UK Patent Office took the view that the subject matter of the patent was unpatentable.

Step One: Properly construe the claim. This new first step is designed to make the examiners establish what monopoly would be created were the patent to be granted.

Step Two: Identify the actual contribution.

Step Three: Ask whether it falls solely within the excluded subject matter. There is a list of matters which will not be afforded patent protection under Article 52(2) of the EPC. If the invention in question falls:-

o If it is held by the patent examiners that it is not technical in nature, then the fourth step would fail.

The Application Of The New Test In The Cases: The Aerotel Appeal: The patent application consisted of two halves.

The Macrossan Appeal: The court held that the patent application was for both a business method and a computer program. The contribution concerns solely excluded subject matter. It is for both a business method and a computer program.

Conclusion: If all four parts of the test are passed, the invention in question is likely to be afforded patent protection.

Intellectual Property - Ground Breaking Decision - Patents - Business Methods - Computer Programs

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ASSIGNMENT OF PATENTS, TRADEMARKS, AND COPYRIGHTS

What is Intellectual Property?

Common types of intellectual property include patents, trade secrets, trademarks and copyrights.

Some intellectual property can embody more than one type or form. For example, a patent right is granted for a specific period of time, while a trade secret may be maintained forever.

There are basically three types of patents; utility patents, design patents and plant patents. Design patents provide protection for the ornamental aspects of a product. A design may also be copyrightable, however unlike copyright protection, the design patent will not cover the design if it is applied to a type of product that is not covered by the patent. Plant patents encompass a very narrow area of patent law.

What is a Trade Secret?

To qualify for trademark protection, a mark must be "distinctive". The strongest is "fanciful" marks. Fanciful marks are the easiest to receive trademark protection, assuming there are no similar marks in relation to similar products or services. The next type of mark with the strongest likelihood of obtaining trademark protection is "arbitrary". "Suggestive" marks can receive trademark protection but may be more difficult to trademark if they are too "descriptive."

"Descriptive" marks are much more difficult to obtain trademark protection. Otherwise, a descriptive mark will not receive protection.

The weakest category of "distinctiveness" includes marks that are "generic." A generic mark cannot receive trade mark protection.

A copyright is a protection that is granted to "original works of authorship."

A work receives copyright protection when it is "created."

Is Your Business Protecting It's Intellectual Property? An Overview of Patents, Trademarks and More

The main difference between assigning a patent and licensing a patent is important.; Assigning Patents, Trademarks or Copyrights is basically selling the complete ownership interest in that patent, trademark, or copyright.; And the licensing of a patent, trademark, or copyright is like "renting" that patent, trademark, or copyright.

Assignments, like deeds, are not time sensitive.; Once you assign those Patents, Trademarks or Copyrights, your rights in those Patents, Trademarks or Copyrights are gone forever.; In other words, you cannot assign those rights in your Patents, Trademarks or Copyrights for a period of months, years, or decades.

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Imagine if Bill Gates had never shared his ideas about the new BASIC programming language that he and Paul Allen developed...would Microsoft exist?

So, what is intellectual property?

Intellectual property is those ideas fixed in a form.

Copyrights:

Patents:

Let's go back to Edison for an example: he obtained a utility patent for his electric lamp as well as a design patent for the look/design of the electric lamp.

Let your ideas flow...but be sure to protect your intellectual property!

Intellectual Property - The 3 Branches: Copyrights, Patents ; Trademarks

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Copyrights, Patents And Trademarks For The Uninitiated

-- Why NDA's are only binding if there is a paper trail

-- What legal differences exist between patents and NDA's

What is a Patent?

A patent is a piece of paper.

Patents represent rock-solid proof of ownership of an idea. Just go to the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Fill out the patent application. The Patent is one way. An NDA is another. But an NDA is nowhere near as powerful as a patent.

Whereas a patent is a federal document proving ownership of an idea, an NDA is simply a contract between two people. A patent, of course.

You go to Dishonest Dan, a widget manufacturer and have him sign an NDA before you reveal your big idea. You have a very solid case if you sue him.

Patents provide proof that you own the idea entirely. Today, many people tend to be confused on what copyright, patent and trademark is all about. Patenting, copyrighting and trademarks are all in the intellectual property law. Trademark registration, patenting, and copyrighting are all handled by the United States Patent and Trademark Office or PTO. In the trademark registration process, you have to present your trademark symbol to the PTO. Although the process for trademark registration is shorter than patenting an invention, you have to consider that it will also take some time. If your trademark symbol contains a lot of similarities with other trademark symbol that is already registered, it will usually be refused.These are the basics in patent, copyright and trademarks.

How IP Lawyers Can Help You Shield Your Invention Applying Patents

Huge fortunes are at play in the software game.

The three had founded the company initially to promote an online strip poker game they called Foxy Poker. A short time later they created the amazingly addictive game Diamond Mind which Microsoft, which licensed the game for a time, renamed Bejeweled.

Fortunes Can Be Lost In the Software Game

One of the primary ways is through patent infringement lawsuits.

Speculation about a possible Spotify/Facebook business development is a hotly debated topic in various financial circles.

But at the end of July 2011, Spotify was sued for intellectual property infringement by a software company called PacketVideo, the originators of a streaming music technology that was the Next Big Thing a decade ago.

Experts say the technology - U.S. patent 5,636,276 - is quite broad.

Pursuing Software Patents?

If you invent or develop a new service, concept or product6, it is vitally important to take steps to protect it. If the latter, it could be that the copying company has been advised that the original patent is not sufficiently strong to mount a strong defence in court, in other words that it was not well drafted.

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In particular, if a patented product or process has obvious commercial benefits, then it will be in the commercial interest of less than scrupulous business people to work around the patent and develop something similar that achieves the same end.

Validity search – what patent holders really should do to defend their patents

The category that has most fascinated me over the years is in the way of futon frame designs.

One of the earliest futon patents I was able to locate was for Nikita Grigoriev who filed for a futon patent in 1983 (Patent Number 4538308) for what he called "Convertible Furniture".

Another early futon design patent was filed in 1985 (Patent Number 4642823) assigned to Robert Fireman's Furniture Gallery, Inc. invented by William B. Wiggins.

In 1990 Gary Shaffield ; Robert Fireman filed a futon design patent utilizing a tension spring to facilitate movement from position to position. (Patent Number 4996730). Incorporated into this design was a tension spring that helped with the operation of the frame. It should be noted that in my studies of futon patents many other patents in futon designs are held by Robert Fireman in both tri-fold and bi-fold designs.

Another interesting futon patent that I came across was filed in 1991 by Randall L. Withers assigned to Maurice A. Warner, Jr. (Patent Number 5129114). Much like other futon patents, designs were beginning to shift towards futons being built with side arms, two connecting rails and a seat and back section. However futon bi-fold designs such as these weren't the only bi-fold designs out there.

In December 1991 Thomas L. Meade submitted a convertible furniture frame patent (Patent Number 5170519) that did not use arms in its design for assisting conversion of the futon but a hinges and stops arrangement. This patent was assigned to . who implemented this design into their successful line of futon products.

Continuing moving forward in futon designs a futon patent was filed in 1994 by Peter W. Dodge (Patent Number 5513398) for a futon that featured a tilt mechanism. This allowed a transfer from the bed position to the sofa position using guide slots or routed out grooves using rollers to move up and down the seat and back sections of the futon frame. The validity search is a specific type of patent novelty search. The former is conducted to make sure that the patent was validly granted to the patent holder. A validity search should support the decision made in a novelty search. Remember that the patent search may also be used by someone who is seeking a patent license from your existing product.

Patents in the Usa and China

Ideas are incredibly valuable. The suggestion to patent an idea, or keep the idea a secret, is probably not a surprise. But why would anyone publish a valuable idea? To understand why publishing is advantageous, one must first understand the reasons to patent or keep secret an idea.

The patent makes the idea more valuable because the patent holder has a legal monopoly. Patents can also be used to ward off patent infringement lawsuits.

The biggest drawback to a patent, besides cost, is that one must disclose the idea to get the patent. Like keeping an idea secret, publishing is essentially free. Like a patent, publishing also protects by preventing others from patenting the idea.

If an inventor doesn't file for a patent on the idea within a year of its publication, the idea becomes part of the public domain.

If you don't patent or keep secret an idea, you should publish it. Someone will have your idea soon. Ideas that you don't patent should be published to prevent others patenting that same idea and perhaps latter suing you.

Publishing an idea is easy. There are many differences between China and United States Patent Systems.