Patent Invention Promotion Companies

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This is the laboratory notebook of Damon Bruccoleri. Here you will find engrossing, thoughtful and fun commentary/opinion. Leave a comment and let others know what you think about any post here, view my photo gallery, or sign my guestbook.

"...one of the strongest motives that lead men to art and science is escape from everyday life with its painful crudity and hopeless dreariness, from the fetters of one's own ever-shifting desires. A finely tempered nature longs to escape from the personal life into the world of objective perception and thought." - Albert Einstein

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Friday, June 22, 2007

Patent Invention Promotion Companies

Lets say you pay someone to do some work for you. They do shoddy work. Finally enough people are taken and the vendor gets caught and they (eventually) get their license suspended. You may derive some satisfaction from that, but your still out your money AND whatever work they were to do was done shoddily. The shoddy work may wind up costing you even more than the direct money you are out.

I have always wondered about these patent invention companies. You know them ... I see them advertised on TV all the time. They claim they will patent your invention and 'present it to industry' (whatever that means). If they were to do shoddy work you could wind up losing any claim on your invention. You would be out any fees they charged PLUS any future royalties on your invention.

Dennis Crouch is a patent attorney and has a wonderful blog about patents. In his latent entry he discusses Bender v. Dudas (Fed. Cir. 2007). Usually Mr. Crouch's language is too thick in legal jargon. But this one is easier to understand. It discusses how 'Bender' had their license to practice revoked and exposes their relation with the patent invention promotion company and clients.

I particularly like this quote by Mr. Crouch:
"Individual inventors who are not yet versed in the rules of patent law create problems for patent prosecutors. The work generally takes more time and effort, the malpractice risk is often greater, and the ability to pay is usually less. A number of law firms now have policies against representing individuals (except for the very wealthy)."

I would suggest that any engineer (or 'inventor') should take every opportunity to understand some of the basics of patent law. The difference between design and utility patents as well as provisional and non-provisional patents would be my first suggestion. Visiting the United States Patent Office website would be a first step.

I have about a dozen patents in my name that I worked with patent attorney's to file and get assigned. One of them is actually pretty valuable. Its not just important to understand some patent law, but there is a whole philosophy surrounding patents - what to patent and how. I find the term 'patent protection' to be a misnomer as well. A patent is more like the right to sue since it seems quite common for companies to completely ignore patents. Patents, and everything that surrounds them, can be quite expensive for an individual inventor or engineer.

admin4 at 5:53 AM | (4) Comments | Add a comment | Permalink

Commments

Maryann said...

I had an idea for an improvement to an existing product, a dog toy to be exact. I emailed the company, not with the idea, but to see who I should talk to about it, and they emailed me back that I should get a patent and then get back to them......I can't be bothered after reading this and going to the link about patents......uggggghhhh

Wednesday, June 27, 2007 6:31 PM

admin4 said...

I agree. A patent is work and money. Before the average person decides to do that they should do some market research. Would you be wasting your money and time with the patent? Is there something similar on the market? How many can you sell. So the invention better be worthwhile. When I was at a previous employer I had outside people come to me all the time with ideas. I told them the same thing. If they want to make business out of it they need a patent. I did not even want to listen to it cause it could lead to all kinds of legal problems for my employer. We had a huge engineering team so we probably were already working on different advances in the product. If we came out with the same idea a few months later there might be hard feelings.

Thursday, June 28, 2007 10:26 AM

admin4 said...

This is a good subject for some lab notes Maryann. I got to be careful because it could be possible that people might think I would be posting legal advice. People are interested in patents because the rewards are significant.

Thursday, June 28, 2007 10:33 AM

Maryann said...

The idea that I had would actually make it easier for the product to be used for its intended purpose (at least on my end). I'm thinking of just telling them....so what if they make it......then I'll have what I need.

Thursday, June 28, 2007 11:07 AM