Q: Best way for me to go about finding out if there are any current patents or pending patents for my dry fly floatant?
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.
A:
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 still more. Another way to look is to search for reference to patents on the containers of existing dry fly floatants as they should list the patents that cover that product. You can also search for the word patent on the company web sites of the major producers in this space.
If you found this answer helpful, you may want to look at my answers to other questions about patent law are available at the bottom of my profile page at
https://lawyers.justia.com/lawyer/kevin-e-flynn-880338
Kevin E Flynn
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