Posts in Inventors Information

As you review the statements below, all of which were publicly available on the Internet when I found them, I think what you will find is that those companies you would most like to review your ideas and inventions are the companies that are not going to do so on a confidential basis. Many companies require an issued patent, or at least a pending patent application. Over and over again they recommend that you at least file a patent application prior to submitting in order to preserve your rights, and recommend that you contact a patent attorney.

Invention promotion firms, sometimes referred to as invention promotion companies, have been widely criticized in numerous circles, including political circles in Washington, DC, for many years.  The American Inventors Protection Act (AIPA) was enacted into law in 1999 and by its very name sought to address head on the problems faced by so many inventors.  In truth, the title of…

Below is a question that we received recently, which is one that many folks likely have. Thus, I thought it might make a good article, particularly given that there is no “right” answer. Question (in edited form): Should I file a patent application and obtain a patent before I submit my invention to a company like Lambert & Lambert for…

Lately we have received a lot of inquiries from individuals who are interested in obtaining a patent search.  Many people incorrectly assume that a patent search will accomplish two goals; namely that a patent search will inform them whether they can obtain a patent themselves and then also whether they would be infringing any patents if they were to move…

If patents are good for Microsoft and the tech giants, patents are right for Red Hat and the open source community and patents are demanded by investors, as Dean Kamen explains, when small businesses seek funds, why would they be bad for independent inventors and small businesses? When you start out in business you don’t model yourself after those who fail, but rather after those who succeed, and the one thing successful businesses with proprietary and open source business models agree on is that patents are important enough to obtain. Simply stated, those who refuse to acknowledge the power and protection afforded by patents ignore reality and must be assumed to have an agenda.

To paraphrase the famous quote of Ralph Waldo Emerson, if you build a better mouse-trap the world will make a path to your door. Inventors and entrepreneurs frequently take this quote all too literally, thinking that if they make a better product theirs will sell and make them rich beyond their wildest dreams. There are, of course, many different reasons…

Earlier today I stumbled across US Patent No. 7,631,368, which is titled Combined concealed carry holster undergarment and outergarment with quick release and quick access mechanisms.  This patent is one that offers a number of lessons, both for inventors and for those who are seeking to reform the US patent process.  The lesson for inventors is a cautionary one; namely…

It is about that time of year where we start to wind down the old and prepare for the new. So with retrospectives on my mind I thought it might be interesting to take a look at the United States Patent and Trademark Office Annual Report for 2009. The Patent Office adheres to a slightly different “year” than most of…

Patent and Trademark Depository Librarians read your October 25, 2009 blog entry, USPTO Designates New PTDL, But What About Online, which makes a strong and most welcome call for fully indexed access to all US Patents back to 1790. Many PTDL librarians have called for such access for the past decade. State of the art OCR of USPTO’s image files…

It is that time of the year when we frantically look for gifts for Christmas or Hanukkah.  Christmas comes each year predictably on December 25th, but Hanukkah moves around and this year will start at sundown on December 11th, so time is running short.  With the economy the way it is, extravagant gifts are likely not going to be as…

Disposable rainwear US Patent No. 6,658,665 Issued December 9, 2003 I have not been doing as many obscure patents as I once did, but I have been increasingly hearing from inventors that they miss this feature because humorous patents coupled with a story provide a good learning opportunity.  That being the case, I will try and write more about obscure…

I am just getting back from two days at the United States Patent and Trademark Office, having attended the 14th Annual Inventors Conference.  There is much to report, and much to write about, and I will continue to digest, analyze and write about what I saw and my impressions in the days to come.  It is, however, undeniable that there…

The 14th Annual Inventors Conference is presently ongoing at the United States Patent and Trademark Office in Alexandria, Virginia.  The conference started yesterday and continues today.  I am here at the USPTO presently, and I was here yesterday as well and had an opportunity to hear Patent Office Director David Kappos address the attendees during a lunch speech and then…