Patents received by FIRST Teams

[Carol]

Originally Posted by Daniel_LaFleur

One of the quickest, cheapest and easiest ways to protect your patentable ideas is whats called a 'poor mans' copywrite.

Take a copy of all of your documentation and put it into an envolope and then go to the post office and have them postmark across each seal of the envelope. As long as the seal remains intact, that envelope becomes a legal sealed and dated document that could be used to prove that you had the idea first.

Many people use this form of copywrite to protect themselves while going through the patent process.

That really is more of an urban legend than a practical idea. See http://www.snopes.com/legal/postmark.asp

What is done in industry is to keep a written notebook where each page is dated, signed by you and by a witness. The witness is important. This counts as a legal document as well.

[Ken Loyd]

In 1996 I had a patent search done for my idea for a "locking lug nut" for car wheels. The search proved that there was nothing like it on the market, but one of the components of my locking device had been mentioned in a 1947 patent application for an outboard boat motor locking device. The advice from my patent attorney was to "cut my losses" and forget about the patent. I had $1,900 invested for the search and prelim work. It was going to take another $3,000 for the application. My attorney felt I would have trouble "defending" my patent because of the 1947 component. I have not seen my idea on the market, so my attorney did not steal my idea, but he did save me $3,000.

Patents are tough to get and even tougher to defend. One slight change to an item and the patent can become invalid. Years ago a company began marketing "the Club" to protect your car. Not long after the club hit the market, spin offs appeared. They were slightly different, so they did not invade the patent.

Ken

PS I have all the documentation for the locking lug nut in a poor mans copywrite envelope in case someone ever puts it on the market.