It is possible. You will need to consult with a patent attorney and go through the dates of specific events.

If your first patent application (possibly a provisional application) was filed long before any of the time bar triggers (public sale or offer for sale, public use, public... View More

Yes, the owner of the patent can still sue. There is a rule that if a product has a device patent and does not mark the product with the patent number or a web site with the patent numbers, then the owner forfeits damages up to the point that the notice is given (often the filing of the law suit).... View More

When a United States patent is sold, the acquiring party usually notes the change of ownership in the USPTO records. You can check these records and see the chain of title for the patent running from the inventors to the current owner at... View More

You need to have a patent attorney look at your product and the claims of the patent. For your product to infringe, there needs to be at least one independent claim where every limitation in at least one independent claim (every noun, verb, relationship, etc.) is present in your product.... View More

Greetings,

Your question seems like a patent question but it actually a state law question. It may hinge on your role at the company and any employment agreements you have. There may be special state laws that override the employment agreement.

So you will need to talk to an... View More

I have provided a link to the files for this application so you can see all the papers associated with it. https://patentcenter.uspto.gov/applications/16516919 The names of the attorneys will be on the papers for the application when they filed the application.

The name of the firm that is on the issued patent is not always the firm that wrote the patent application as sometimes the patent application moves from one firm to another during the time that the application is pending (such as when a company is sold or even when just the patent application is... View More

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 can download the PDF from here https://patents.google.com/patent/USD968944S1/en?oq=D968944

You may want to talk to a patent attorney to sort out what is the distinctive set of features protected by this patent and what is not protect as it is utilitarian.

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