Did you search for other fishing accessories that use the same concept even if the item is not identical? To be awarded a patent, one must pass through several filters. While being new is a filter, the harder one is being non-obvious. The latter test asks whether someone with access to all... View More

You should consult with the University Tech Transfer Office (name of this office varies from school to school). They may be able to obtain a license to this method.

While the chances of someone getting sued over one infringing device may be small, they are not zero. Universities are not... View More

If you have the old lure in the original packaging, it may show the patent number if they had a patent.

https://patents.google.com/patent/US20070234635A1/en?q=(hellgrammite)&oq=hellgrammite is a published patent application for Method and apparatus for integrated weighted nymph form... View More

There are no global patents. You may be looking for a Patent Cooperation Treaty patent application which is the front end of many patent systems (including the US). If so, you can look here https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/search.jsf

This is the search tool run by the World... View More

It is not at all unusual to receive an initial rejection from an Examiner. The Examiner often want to push back a bit to help clarify the scope of the claims. But if you have been rejected repeatedly, it may be time for another set of eyes.

To provide a meaningful second opinion, it... View More

Kudos to you for paying attention to patent issues.

1) I would work with a patent attorney to first check A) that the patent has not lapsed for failure to pay maintenance fees. (you reaching out could trigger a company to pay that fee belatedly); B) check to ensure that the claims do... View More

This is a very common question as these topics are not taught in school. The United States Patent and Trademark Office has a web page that addresses this issue. https://www.uspto.gov/trademarks/basics/trademark-patent-copyright

I hope that this helps. Note--just as you may have a dead... View More

If you had an issued Utility or Design patent and that patent expired at the end of the life of the patent, then that idea is part of what the public gets to use without paying patent royalties.

If your Utility patent lapsed as you unintentionally failed to pay a maintenance fee, then that... View More

You can pay an patent attorney or patent agent to perform a patentability search. Often they will tee up the search scope and outsource the search to professional searchers with lower hourly rates.

NOTE -- even after a search, your idea may not be patentable as someone may have filed a... View More

I am sorry about the accident that took your husband. While the patents are a part of this issue, I suspect that the prime legal arguments will be about the licenses or other agreements that your husband had with the company. This is contract law. The litigation will be primarily on contract law... View More

I don't use Justia to look at patents. There may be a way to see the figures but I don' t know it. You can use Google Patents to see figures and download the complete PDF. You can use https://pat2pdf.org/ to download PDF files of patents. There are many other placed to download US... View More

For many years, the US was a first to invent country. That changed in 2011 see -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leahy%E2%80%93Smith_America_Invents_Act

There is a narrow exception that if someone takes the idea of another (AND YOU CAN PROVE THAT) then the first to file will lose out over... View More

A market dominant company is not likely to take you seriously until you have proceeded in the patent process until at least an Office Action noting some allowable claims. So I would be sure to file the application using some form of acceleration. Usually, that is a Track One fee and petition so... View More

One place to start is the USPTO assignment database. While not every company registers their assignments there, it is a best practice and many larger companies are good about doing so.... View More

Short answer is No as at least one of these patents has expired. (one can own an expired patent and continue to seek recovery for infringement that happened before the patent expired -- but for all practical purposes, it is no longer a threat to new actions.)

You should look at Google... View More

I am not sure what database you are talking about as I do not use Justia to search for patents.

But in the normal course of things, a patent application is published 18 months after that application (or a priority application) was filed. So for example US20170035603 A1 was a publication... View More

This is going to require that a patent attorney take a deep dive on the material that you provided and the nuances of the issued patent claims. There may be a path to correct inventorship to add you as one of the inventors. If you did not assign over your rights, then being a coinventor makes you... View More

In order to obtain a patent, you will need to show that your pickleball is not just different from the existing pickleballs but differs in a way that would be non-obvious to a non-creative expert in pickleball design.

In order to sell pickleballs, you need to be clear of all relevant... View More

Not clear how they will get access to your business idea. If you mean will they be able to look at your provisional patent application, the answer is no (not unless you provide a copy). If you mean your US patent application, the default is that the application is published 18 months from the... View More

A US patent covers a produce while it is in the US. So if you want to avoid the US patent, you need to avoid the US. That means the product cannot be in the US and you cannot make the sale from the US.

If you open an office in Canada to make sales and import products from China without... View More