Free-ish offer to all teams to help with IP work

[marcusbernstein]

Hi Keith, thank you so much for this generous offer to the FIRST community. I know from my research that the patent filing process is really difficult, and I appreciate all of your help in both my case and anyone else's. I PM'd you about my situation and I hope you can help me.

[kiettyyyy]

This is truly a gracious offer. I've submitted a number of patents at Qualcomm and have worked with patent firms. The amount of money that is made per claim is staggering.

I'll keep the info in mind

[wireties]

We are getting quite a few queries - FIRSTers are an inventive bunch! And we've repeated this advice often enough to post it ...

Young inventors often toil away on a great idea only to see it already exists. Before you put too much time into your invention do serious research and figure out if it is unique. Your idea can't pre-exist in any "prior art" (invalid, valid or abandoned patent applications, scholarly publications, trade journals etc) or in combinations of "prior art". If the invention seems unique, does it have commercial value?

I refer you to http://www.ipwatchdog.com/ to get ideas for patentability searches. My son is of counsel to the firm that supports this web site. There is a lot of great information for inventors!

HTH

[smitikshah]

Thanks for the site! I saw the prices to file patents with certain examples and nearly spit out my water. This is a very generous offer and will certainly keep this in mind (I'm working on something at the current moment that might qualify!).