Patents are subject to many different laws and judicial exceptions. Some of these may make it difficult to get a patent in this area.

35 USC 101 ("Alice") patent eligibility issues: Since the 2014 Supreme Court "Alice" case, the courts have declared many topics to be... Read more »

You would need to check to see if the US patent holder also filed for any international patents. For example, the US patent holder might have filed a PCT patent application in 2021 or 2022, and have reserved the right to then file into Canada at a later time.

Even if this particular US... Read more »

When a company goes out of business, the company assets (like patents) usually end up reverting to the company creditors and company stockholders. So unless this is your company, and you had no creditors or other stockholders, you may be out of luck.

In terms of filing a revision -- unless... Read more »

I'm going to assume that you are the inventor and that we are talking about US patent applications.

It is common for patents to be rejected on the First Examination Report (FER). The USPTO assumes that if you still want to get the invention, you will respond to the report (office... Read more »

The international patent process starts simple, but then gets more complex.

Ultimately most countries (with the EU acting as a block) want to process patent applications through their local offices and correspond to local law firms.

By treaty, the initial patent application in... Read more »

The USPTO classifies applicants as large entity, small entity, and micro entity. Assuming you qualify, then even after the patent was granted, it is possible to change your status to small or micro entity and get a substantial discount on the renewal fees.

Small entities are often small... Read more »

It depends on how ownership of the patent is structured, and the terms of the investment.

For example, investors often require that the inventor assign the patent to a company. The inventor will presumably own shares in the company. When the investor invests, then the investor owns shares... Read more »

Given that you are talking about your grandfather, I am going to assume that you are talking about a patent that issued more than 20 years ago. Perhaps even in the 1950s or earlier?

Patents don't last forever. These days they last about 20 years from filing. Earlier US patents lasted... Read more »

A quick way to check the USPTO assignment database is to check at the URL:

https://assignment.uspto.gov/patent/index.html#/patent/search .

Here you enter in the name of the owner (Worlds, Inc) as the "Assignee name." When you do this, the system lists various companies... Read more »

One good way to research this is to use patents.google.com, type in various relevant keywords, and see what you find. For example, try: https://patents.google.com/?q=helmet+baseball+cap&oq=helmet+in+baseball+cap and various other variations.

For printed material like this, patents don't apply, but copyrights do. This is most likely under copyright. This means that can't borrow the text or illustrations from the original. However you can try to make up your own game under a different name and different rules.

If the patent was abandoned more than two years ago, then the chances that the owner could revive it are pretty low, and it should be relatively safe to use. If the patent expired due to "old age," then it is also safe to use. The main risk is if the patent was recently abandoned (less... Read more »

Yes. Like all patents, however, the formula needs to be novel and not obvious. Check patents.google.com or other source to see prior art on concrete formulas. The good news and bad news is that there are a lot of concrete formula patents ahead of you. The examiner will be looking at your patent... Read more »

It depends on the structure. The USPTO will not give you much if any credit for teaching Bamboo. They also won't give you much if any credit for teaching a known structure such as a teepee. However if you come up with a non-obvious and original structure, or some non-obvious way of altering or... Read more »

One easy way is to look up the patent at https://patents.google.com/ . Then, for a US patent, put a US in front of the number such as US5857273. Google will fetch the patent and also let you know if it is expired or not (it is).

To get your own patent in the same topic, you will have to... Read more »

You can do a quick and free feasibility test by trying various relevant key words at:

https://patents.google.com/

Although this is no substitute for a professional search, you can at least get some feedback as to if further funds and effort are a good idea, or not.

Unfortunately, most likely not. Your partner had two options to get a US patent. Either apply directly for a US patent within a year of filing for the Chinese patent, or alternatively file for an international (PCT) patent application, and then apply for a US patent application within 30 months... Read more »

I am not sure if this applies to your situation or not. However many products from the 80's and 90's, unless covered by trademarks (such as the product's name or logo) or copyrights (for example, graphics), are now "public domain." In such cases, anyone might be able to... Read more »

Probably yes, but the USPTO will likely then consider your AFCP 2.0 request to be withdrawn and will instead most likely go with the RCE.

It probably is a good idea to talk to a patent attorney. The claims may not be as comprehensive as you think. Alternatively, the patent prosecution history may show specific gaps in coverage. Other information, such as expiration dates, ownership, and the like, may also be helpful.