Any good patent lawyers willing to help a team?

[efoote868]

Originally Posted by farmersvilleRob

So basically, I will be following these paths and whatever pans out is my choice:
1) find a pro Bono patent lawyer willing to help us for a chunk of profits

2) contact andymark or a company relative to my product to get their lawyers to help for a bigger chunk of profits

3) file 125$ for a provisional patent that may get rejected

4) just produce the product and while producing, file for patent

But if I file for the provisional and it is found to violate an existing patent, would I be charged in a civil case?

The provisional patent application never gets "rejected"; it gives you a year to disclose your inventions to anyone before making a decision to file or not. You basically tell the USPTO, "Hey, I think I've invented something, but I don't want to file for a patent quite yet."


I'd recommend talking to a patent attorney, or at least getting that book first before making any business decisions.

[DonRotolo]

Originally Posted by nitneylion452

Something you can do is get a hard copy of your design and mail it to yourself. That serves as proof of when you developed the idea and will hold up in court should someone try to steal your idea. My grandfather called this the "poor man's patent." But this could protect you from potential problems if the idea sneaks out.

This has been shown repeatedly to be completely worthless in court. It is a waste of 45 cents.

[dtengineering]

Originally Posted by farmersvilleRob

So basically, I will be following these paths and whatever pans out is my choice:
1) find a pro Bono patent lawyer willing to help us for a chunk of profits

2) contact andymark or a company relative to my product to get their lawyers to help for a bigger chunk of profits

3) file 125$ for a provisional patent that may get rejected

4) just produce the product and while producing, file for patent

But if I file for the provisional and it is found to violate an existing patent, would I be charged in a civil case?

1) Pro Bono means "for free". Not for a share of the profits. I'd say your chances of finding someone who will assist you for free are actually greater than someone who will do it for a share of the profits. Right now only you believe you have a profitable invention, and if you don't believe it strongly enough to invest your money in it, why would you expect a patent agent to invest their time in it? On the other hand, you might find someone willing to help you out just because they admire your drive.

2) If you are planning to invest a large sum of money in developing your product, it may be wise to seek advice from people who have done this before. You may find that they bring more to the table than you think... a partnership that succeeds, after all, is better than a solitary effort that fails.

3) Unless you honestly expect to earn in excess of $50,000 based on a conservative business plan I wouldn't bother applying for a patent... provisional or otherwise. You won't have the revenue to protect it in the event someone does infringe. Remember... a patent doesn't stop someone from infringing, it allows YOU to stop them by taking them to court. And that costs money.

4) If you produce the product and unknowingly infringe someone's patent then it is up to them to advise you of this fact. You will be sent a "cease and desist" letter. At that point you will have to decide what to do, but you will also have a much better idea of the revenue potential of your product and how much time and money you are willing to invest in the fight.

Far more important than your patent plans are your business plans. Protecting intellectual property is only one part of developing a product... I'd worry about the other stuff first. Maybe build a prototype and take it to an event and ask "Would you pay $xx for this device?" and see what the uptake is before you stress over the rest of the details. (Note, however, that if you do wish to patent your design at a later date, you shouldn't show HOW it does whatever it is that it does until you have filed a provisional.)

Jason

[45Auto]

Make sure that what you are thinking about producing is worth the investment. Many FIRST teams have free access to basic machining capabilities.

Most FIRST teams are also cheap. They will copy whatever you come up with for their own use using their own machining capabilities. All your patent will do is show them how to build it. As long as they build it for their own use and don't try to sell it, your patent means nothing.