Get free answers to your Patents (Intellectual Property) legal questions from lawyers in your area.
How can I find out if it has any value.
answered on Jan 31, 2021
Patents that have issued in 1994 have no value at the present time, because they have expired.
answered on Sep 28, 2020
You will most certainly need a license from the person who holds the patent, or the licensee who has the ability to grant sub-licenses to the patent in question. If you are planning to make, use, sell, or offer for sale a patented invention you need permission to do so from the patentee.... View More 
I would like to speak to the inventor
answered on Aug 24, 2020
First you should consult with a patent attorney to see if the patent that concerns you actually is still in force. It 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 the... View More
I am writing a patent that consists of separate components that could also be patented. My question is whether it would be better to patent each piece of technology individually or to include them all within the final marketable product.
answered on Jun 28, 2020
Well, it is generally easiest and cleanest to put it into separate applications (because inventors typically come up with different components at different times, but I generally tend to put it all into one patent application, let the examiner restrict it, and then choose which way you want to go.... View More
the fiction out there says they are .GMO and are both copyrighted and pattented. Can this be true of a fish?
mike
answered on Apr 22, 2020
There are patents on Glofish. See for example, https://patents.google.com/patent/US8378169, which has expired.
Glofish is also trademarked. There are about 37 different trademarks "Glofish" or a variation thereof; I how many of those are associated with the fish.
I have found a lot of conflicting info. Some saying that you can't copyright a pattern, and that final product is "your" work so you can sell.
Others saying that no you can't. Very confused!!
answered on Apr 19, 2020
it requires an analysis of the pattern, and see if it is owned or copyrighted by somebody.
Think of the Louis Vuitton pattern.
In general just because you see it somewhere it does not mean it is free
Make a Consult appointment
Marcos.
Counsel for the... View More
answered on Jun 17, 2019
Whether it will be hard or easy to obtain a patent on a one of a kind bath toy will depend on how new it is. If the bath toy has some insignificant modifications from other bath toys, or is just a combination of other bath toys, then it will be difficult to get a patent.
You should seek... View More
Professional engineer
answered on Apr 12, 2019
There are a number of ways to file a patent in Belgium as well as other countries. The first step is going to be determining if you're only interested in Belgium or if you'd like to file in other countries as well. From there, you will have to decide if you'd like to draft your own... View More
The apron is unique insofar as it has elements that have not been done before. It is a multi use item that can too easily be copied - unless that means it's too simple to warrant a patent. That is what I need to know before investing thousands of dollars. Help!
answered on Mar 19, 2019
OK -- you have a provisional application that will expire April 11, 2019.
It is expensive to pursue a non-provisional application from filing to issue. If you wrote the provisional application yourself, the patent attorney may have to start from near scratch to draft a real patent... View More
Yet should provide same feeback as the other object does.
answered on Mar 12, 2019
You may have heard that if you build a better mousetrap, the world will beat a path to your door. This highlights that there can be several solutions to a particular problem and each can obtain their own patent. This may be the situation that you are in.
If you get a patent for your... View More
https://patents.justia.com/patent/D750276
answered on Dec 16, 2018
I am not sure what you mean that you never received credit. I assume that your question is similar to the questions asked by so many scientists and engineers working as an employee or a contractor: you worked on developing a new product for the company, the company got a patent on the invention... View More
For example, I use a power supply from vendor A in my lighting product. The power supply violates a patent from vendor B. Both Vendor A and myself are unaware of the infringement at the time of purchase. Can vendor B sue me for patent infringement?
answered on Dec 3, 2018
Short answer is yes, you have exposure.
35 USC Section 271a states -- Except as otherwise provided in this title, whoever without authority makes, uses, offers to sell, or sells any patented invention, within the United States or imports into the United States any patented invention during... View More
answered on Oct 3, 2018
Your question is a patent question not a copyright question. What you are asking is whether there is any patent where you plan to operate that would cover left and right swipe. This is known as a freedom-to-operate question. In other words do you have freedom to operate as you plan or is there... View More
In my researches on a plant species which produce flowers one time in each year, I found a protocol that let me to control growth habit of this plant under greenhouse conditions and result in flowers more than one time in each year. Can this protocol be registered as a patent?
answered on Jun 27, 2018
In my slide set on protecting competitive advantages ( http://bit.ly/Protecting_Advantages ), I note that some patents protect new features in a product and some patents protect improved ways of making the product. If you have found a way to increase the annual yield of a plant to produce more... View More
answered on Feb 5, 2018
You should expect anywhere from $10,000 to $30,000 for a US utility patent.
If it is much less than that, you either got lucky, or the patent is not very strong (either is written too sloppily or it is too narrow to be valuable).
It is uncommon that the price would go too much... View More
I presented an idea in the MIT Whiteboard Challenge in early 2012. The idea was for an electric bicycle. A few months later, there was a company creating similar electric bicycles and raising money via crowdfunding. Recently they were purchased by another larger company for an undisclosed amount.... View More
answered on Jul 7, 2017
A couple of points.
When you come up with an invention, you have 3 choices to make. One, you can patent it, so that everyone will know about it, but you can keep others from using your invention. Two, you can keep it a secret, so that nobody will know about it. Three, you can disclose it,... View More
answered on Apr 11, 2017
If two patent applications are filed claiming the same invention, the second one will not mature into a patent, because it was filed after the first one. The fact that the first patent application is published after the filing of the second is irrelevant.
It is the FILING of the first... View More
Does the fact that the product is on sale in a foreign country bar me from filing a patent for it in the US? Upon further investigation, no patent application exists for such a product in the US. Does the same go for if the foreign product has an article written about it in a foreign magazine?... View More
answered on Mar 23, 2017
If you did not invent it, then you cannot get a patent on it. You cannot just copy someone else's work and claim it as your own.
Further, even if you invent something, spending lots of time and money inventing it, but someone else on the other side of the world invented the same (or... View More
I invented a new cat toy. All handmade.
answered on Mar 14, 2017
I doubt it. Not a utility patent, anyway.
You may certainly get a utility patent, and any number of patent lawyers would be happy to help you, but I have doubts that the expense would be worth it to you. There are way too many cat toys on the market, the margins may be pretty thin, and... View More
can you patent an idea like this? Then try to market it, or license it to the company who has the original app/
answered on Jan 27, 2017
Well, if it is just an idea of adding a feature to an existing app (or if you just have an idea for a new app or any new product) then no, you CANNOT get a patent. In order to get a patent, you should actually build it, or be able to describe how you could build it.
Even if you built it,... View More
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