For example, I currently sell a Spray Bottle, however, I didn't invent it. If there's no patent on the item, could I file for one? Or would I have to change something about it? If so, is there a way to something about the product to file my own patent for it?
Patents are intended in reward inventors. If you did not invent the product, you cannot patent it.
You may be able to patent an improvement to the product as long as whatever you do is not obvious to someone that designs spray bottles. But you would need to invent this or pay someone to... Read more »
I have the molds for these boats and was checking to see if patent expired
PATENT TERM
Patent term is more confusing than it should be. The one part that is simple, is that patent term is not a function of the technology. There is not a way for the applicant to apply to extend the patent term (unlike trademarks or copyrights). (but as noted below, there are... Read more »
I really need to contact one of the rights owners of the patent. How can I contact them?
First you may want to consult with a patent attorney to see if the patent that concerns you actually is still in force. I may have lapsed early for failure to pay the maintenance fee and contacting them may cause them to belatedly revive it.
But if you are sure that you want to contact... Read more »
Just not sure the best way to search before spending the time submitting a patent request and don’t have the funds to pay for anything if it is already patented.
Best starting place is to do some searching using Google Patents and the USPTO Search tools. My slide set at http://bit.ly/Patent_Searching has some useful tips.
Once you find one relevant patent on the topic, that one should lead you to other patents. Those patents will lead you to... Read more »
I used to work for a firm that defended the original Bell telephone patent court (long long before I was born). So I am well aware that improvements to a particular device such as a telephone may continue to come out for a hundred years or so. It is possible that your patent claims one set of... Read more »
Patents provide a heavy hammer to punish unauthorized use of an idea -- but only for a limited time.
Trade secret protection is valuable too. Ask Uber -- they paid $245 million to Google for theft of trade secrets on self-driving cars. The person that stole the ideas was criminally... Read more »
It is possible to go partway through the process with your proprietary information as a secret. However, if you let the patent application publish or you pay an issue fee to get a granted patent then your information becomes public knowledge. You have patent rights to protect the unauthorized use... Read more »
I suggest as a first step that you read some patents on bandages so that you can see the level of detail that is common and get a good feel for what sort of innovations have already been patented. \
My slide set on searching tricks may be helpful. http://bit.ly/Patent_Searching... Read more »
You have filed all your patents in the US. If you filed a patent in Canada, does the prior art in the US affect the prior art in Canada during examination?
With respect to a printed publication or a patent application, the impact is not limited by national borders.
There may be instances where the US laws on the one year grace period means somethings are not prior art in the US but are prior art in other countries (like a post by the... Read more »
I want to start a distribution of a product I manufacture out of the states and need to know if I dont violated some patents I found online that belong to a similar company such as mine
First Question is whether you will be doing anything in the United States.
If your clients are not taking delivery in the US and you are not making the product in the US, then you may not need to worry about a US patent.
On the other hand, looking for US patents is often a quick... Read more »
I looked up his patent and it is for something different but one piece could be in his patent? Not sure where to go from here.
Step one is you need to work with a patent attorney to dive deeply into the patent and make a detailed comparison of the independent claims to your product. This is often called a claim chart and this work is called clearance or freedom-to-operate analysis.
If you clearly do not have one... Read more »
The general type of patent is an issued United States Utility Patent (not a design patent and not a plant patent).
The claims are written a number of different ways but they cover articles of manufacture that have a feature to protect electrical components from excessive electrical surges.... Read more »
A company wants me to sign an NDA before I submit a product idea to them (I'm a Product Developer). I'm not clear on what this means and it concerns me a bit: "Each party hereby expressly acknowledges and agrees that any failure to comply with the provisions of this AGREEMENT will... Read more »
I agree that you need to have the entire agreement looked at by an attorney that is familiar with NDA agreements. Sometimes there can be interplays between a definition on one page and a section on another page so providing advice on a snippet of the agreement can lead to trouble.
Given... Read more »
I believe my patent is being infringe upon.US Patent #: 7631814 Is my patent still active
US Patent No. 7631814 for Portable Sports Equipment Scent Dispersion Apparatus is listed in Google Patents as expired for failure to pay a maintenance fee. If you are the patent owner and the failure to pay the maintenance fee was unintentional, this can be fixed.
Ideally, a patent... Read more »
My father Ian Ripley was the inventor and the origin of the technology used in this patent. He died in 2015 yet he is listed as the inventor in this patent which was filed in 2018, how is this so given the fact my father was not alive at time of filing? We have had issues with other patents this... Read more »
I am sorry that your father is no longer with you.
With respect to filing a patent, if the rights to the invention were passed on to a third party, then those rights can be used to file a patent even after an inventor's death. There are processes for handling this.
You can... Read more »
If one wanted to use it within the title of their own work. Is this a patent, trademark, or copyright issue?
This is not a patent issue.
Kevin E Flynn
We have a similar rim but want to ensure we dont infringe on any patents. My supplier tells me, the patent from ARCONIC / ALCOA has expired.
It is very possible that a patent on a rim would be a design patent which might elude a text based search.
If you can view their truck rim in a store, it may have the patent number on the rim or on the packaging. That is the low tech and easy way to check.
A second good way to... Read more »
I have a brand and I want to put out a product called the universal socket. I just found out there's a patent on this product, but could I still use it? Do I have to pay in order to use the patent?
There are several questions to be answered. This will require a patent attorney but you should know the range of issues.
1) Has the patent expired at the end of its term or lapsed early for failure to pay a maintenance fee?
2) Will the patent expire soon so that you can start... Read more »
Here's an example:
2006-09-19: Application granted
2020-01-15: Application status is Expired - Fee Related
2024-05-04: Adjusted expiration
My question is re: the last two lines. Is the expiration truly now 2024, not 2020? I'm just not sure how those fields... Read more »
Google is not the definitive record. If you have anything that looks odd, you need to go to the official record which is accessible by https://portal.uspto.gov/pair/PublicPair
I hope that this helps.
Kevin E Flynn
Specifically any patents on permaroofs under the last name Black or Southern Builders out of El Dorado, Arkansas. Also there is Southern Builders out of Lebanon, Tennessee.
There is a place to register patent assignments at the USPTO just like you register title to a piece of property. Not everyone does this but most people do and there are incentives to register assignments for certain types of patents. You can look for the the assignee names here --... Read more »
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