Patent Laws

[capthook]

http://www.uspto.gov/go/pac/doc/general/#nature

"Nature of Patent and Patent Rights
The patent is issued in the name of the United States under the seal of the United States Patent and Trademark Office, and is either signed by the Director of the USPTO or is electronically written thereon and attested by an Office official. The patent contains a grant to the patentee, and a printed copy of the specification and drawing is annexed to the patent and forms a part of it. The grant confers ?the right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, or selling the invention throughout the United States or importing the invention into the United States? and its territories and possessions for which the term of the patent shall be generally 20 years from the date on which the application for the patent was filed in the United States or, if the application contains a specific reference to an earlier filed application under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121 or 365(c), from the date of the earliest such application was filed, and subject to the payment of maintenance fees as provided by law. "
"Once a patent is issued, the patentee must enforce the patent without aid of the USPTO"

And if a patent is not issued in YOUR country - there is nothing to enforce (within your country)  Even a WIPO ( http://www.wipo.int/portal/index.html.en ) requires a filing in EACH country you wish to have patent protection.

And even if so - if you are tinkering in your basement - extremely doubtful someones going to spend $$$ on litigation to stop you.... the "spirit" of the law is to prevent selling it....

[AbbaRue]

Thanks again:
Here is a link to some interesting new energy collection devices,
referred to as Aetherometric Technologies.

http://www.aetherenergy.com/index.html


The Correas have quite a few patents already, check them out.
Maybe someone may even want to start a new section just focused on these ideas.

[shruggedatlas]

Hi Shruggedatlas

Well that?s not really the problem I was thinking about.
Say I came up with something, posted enough information for someone else to patent it.
Would they then, as the patent holder,
be able to tell me to stop all research and even hand over all materials and prototypes.

In other words , I don?t feel i should share anything that I come up with
anymore.

That is a real danger, it's true.  Now you would have a defense that you did publish the plans for it first.  But with the timing being so close, and things on the web having a habit of dissappearing, the danger is very real that you could be locked out of your own invention.

In the end, you have to have some faith in the open source community.  Lots of people extend this level of faith and good things come from it, so you should examine and see if you are perhaps a little too paranoid. 

Also, the patent process is not cheap, so people just don't patent things willy-nilly.  People don't just scour the web and snap up ideas en masse and patent them, like they snap up domain names.

[capthook]

Also, the patent process is not cheap, so people just don't patent things willy-nilly.  People don't just scour the web and snap up ideas en masse and patent them, like they snap up domain names.

Actually - a patent is relatively inexpensive.  The larger costs are for the patent lawyer you employ and the maintenance fees once granted.  Doing the application yourself can eliminate the large lawyer fees but they can be very helpful in drafting your claims and dealing with the Patent Office processes so it isn't recommended unless you have experience in these matters.

Also - a preliminary patent ("patent pending") can be filed for $100.  This then gives you 12 months to fully develop the device/examine the market before filing for a full patent.  This provides a "date/idea of invention" to contest you made it first - but the patent expiration date (usually 20 years) will use the full application.
$100 well spent - alot of bang for your buck!

If the owner of the invention qualifies as a small entity (e.g., independent inventor, a small business, or a nonprofit organization), the filing, issue and maintenance fees are reduced by half.

Application Fees: (for a small entity)
Filing:             $155
Claims:            $105
Search:           $255
Examination    $105
SubTotal:         $620    (due with filing)

Issuance Fee:  $720  (due if patent is granted)

Total Cost:         $1340

Maintenance Fees:  (small entity)
4 yr:      $465
8 yr:      $1180
12 yr:      $1955

http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/ac/qs/ope/fee2007september30_2007dec17.htm

(And yes - there are "Patent wharehouse" companies that aquire then litigate as many Patents as possible. As shown - the actual Patent costs are low - and the litigation return can be high.  Also - many companies patent every little thing they possibly can - think IBM, Intel etc)

CH

[hartiberlin]

Patents in my view are just useless unless you have a big corporation behind you
or can sell it to a big corporation that will defend your patent in court.

All other inventors can just improve on your patent with 2 or 3 new ideas
not covered in your patent and then they will get this "better" patent.
If you then don?t have a big corporation behind you that will
battle in court against this "better" patent you are lost...

So for the small inventor patents do not bring any value at all in my view.

Also for our cause over here we better go with open source as
it will bring the small inventor much more fame and money via
public relations and advertisement offers, etc...

So you don?t need to sell anything, if you have a working prototype
which will put out free energy.

Regards, Stefan.