Patents: how and why to get them

145 点作者 dedalus将近 7 年前

10 条评论

> Getting patents is a lot like branding. The trick is to call old things new names.This sad reality is why a lot of engineers look at patents like (to use the article's own analogy) cannibalism.Patents, IMO, would be fine if they were only granted for truly novel inventions. Jefferson's writings on patents make it quite clear he would be pretty aghast at the current state of the patent system and the prevalence of "X, but for Y" patents.See, for example: <a href="http://www.let.rug.nl/usa/presidents/thomas-jefferson/letters-of-thomas-jefferson/jefl220.php" rel="nofollow">http://www.let.rug.nl/usa/presidents/thomas-jefferson/letter...</a>"I assume it is a Lemma, that it is the invention of the machine itself, which is to give a patent right, and not the application of it to any particular purpose, of which it is susceptible. If one person invents a knife convenient for pointing our pens, another cannot have a patent right for the same knife to point our pencils. A compass was invented for navigating the sea; another could not have a patent right for using it to survey land. A machine for threshing wheat has been invented in Scotland; a second person cannot get a patent right for the same machine to thresh oats, a third rye, a fourth peas, a fifth clover, etc. A string of buckets is invented and used for raising water, ore, etc., can a second have a patent right to the same machine for raising wheat, a third oats, a fourth rye, a fifth peas, etc?"But today we have SO many patents that are just "X, but on a computer". The need for true novelty has been completely lost, and with that the system has become a nightmare.

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dosshell将近 7 年前

The article forget to mention that patents is per country. This means that you have to choose which countries you want to protect yourself in. You also have to translate the application to the language to those countries and file it there. Just because you get a patent in US does not mean that you will be granted one in Germany for example. My experience is that it is harder to get a patent in EU (better prior art check etc).The countries you choose not to patent in are free to use your claims and specifications as much as they want. (but they can not sell, marketing etc in the protected ones)What can be patented can also slightly differ, specially in SW.

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viraptor将近 7 年前

Here's something I didn't know before it happened: a company can list you as an inventor on a patent application and file it even if, instead of signing the documents for the legal dept, you respond with a list of prior art. But that's probably only likely in large corps which file lots of research anyway.

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JepZ将近 7 年前

> Because searching prior art is hard.One of the points why software patents are so problematic. If there would be a search engine, where you could enter your function (concrete implementation) and it would come back with the patent fees you would have to pay for the next 5 years on a monthly basis and a checkout button, there would be a lot less resistance against the system.Not because anybody would like the idea of patents any more, but because there would be an easy way of getting around a lot of legal uncertainty.Btw. If the patent system will not change, that will be a cool idea for an AI startup in 2060 ;-)

fern12将近 7 年前

>When you submit a patent application, it becomes public forever, even if it's rejected. You will have paid legal fees with the end result of granting competitors access to your ideas.Not entirely true. If you don't want an application to publish, there are options available. Under certain circumstances (i.e., you are 100% certain that you do not want to file for foreign patent protection in other countries), you can file with a non-publication request, and the application will not become public until it proceeds to issuance as a patent.If it never proceeds to issuance as a patent, then filing it with a non-pub request will at least make it harder to find. It will then only become publicly available (in this case, in the USPTO's Public PAIR database) if it's referenced as a priority app in another published application or issued patent.If it's abandoned and never referred to again in any application, then you have to file a petition to gain access to the file wrapper contents.

jacques_chester将近 7 年前

So I filed and was (after nearly 5 years) granted a patent late last year. It cost me around fifty thousand dollars. I have mixed feelings about whether it was worth it.> Yet some lawyers actually recommend against it, since if you do find prior art, you're now willfully infringing on it, and should cease and desist.I am not a lawyer.The advice I have seen from actual lawyers is that this is essentially an urban legend based on a bloke-in-a-bar-told-me level of legal understanding. If you are going to file, why piss away tens of thousands of dollars on filing expenses when you can spend a few days (or pay a professional searcher $1500-2500) to see if it's worth bothering?The "never search, it triples your death-mo-trons!!1!" comes from an easy legal defence for megacorps. Being able to stand up in court and say "we didn't know about patent X because it is against company policy to search" is much easier than a protracted, expensive and chancy legal discovery process to try and determine who read what, when, and what they may or may not have understood.> Don't expect a patent lawyer to honestly tell you he doesn't know your domain.Actually, do expect a patent lawyer to honestly tell you their expertise. They have a fiduciary duty to clients. Turns out you can't charge $300 or $600 or $900 an hour if you've been disbarred. But do ask about their credentials and experience and do choose according to that expertise.The key is that, having told you their expertise, lawyers will still act on your instructions. I can ask my lawyer to do my laundry if I want. I will be advised that this is not their specialty and that it would be a poor use of my money. But I could insist and my lawyer will shrug and make the arrangements, for several hundred dollars per hour.I did a lot of the legwork on my patent myself -- I drafted a lot of it, carefully studied cited art and wrote my objections etc etc. I am, after all, the person in world who knows it best. But my lawyer could have done it too, it would've just taken longer and cost a lot more.One last piece of advice I got about law firms. The $800-$1000/hr places are big city firms. When you hire one, the USPTO examiners will assume you are a GigantoMegaGloboInc and examine accordingly. Sometimes they dislike the booming sound of heavy-gauge letterhead being fired across their bow. A smaller firm can typically give you closer attention and is less likely to seem as impersonal.

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neverartful将近 7 年前

I have an idea that I believe is patentable that I've been sitting on for several years. I came up with the idea while working for a previous employer, but not in the context of my job (I was thinking how to solve a need in my personal life).I have never pursued patents (on this idea, nor any other). Would there be any benefit to me to disclose this idea to my current employer as a potentially patentable idea? I have no intention of pursuing a patent on my own. I may intend to actually implement the idea on my own (to solve my own needs), not in context of a business.

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paulie_a将近 7 年前

I looked into getting a patent and realized they are basically useless. Why bother for the cost and enforcement?

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xstartup将近 7 年前

As someone who has multiple startups.Here are the main benefits of patents:1. Helps in IPR negotiations. When multiple startups are competing in same space and poaching same employees, highly likely your tech will end up being similar to your competitor. Maybe some of the processes are exact copies. Then if you've no patents and you get sued, good luck defending yourself.We solve it by creating landmines of patents around our actual application. So, that if we end up infringing someone else's patent, we'll be able to find some of their infringement then negotiate the settlement.If you've nothing, you can't defend and your settlement will not be something in your favor.Conversation with competitor: Mate! you violated my patent X and I violated your patent Y, we'll get nothing out of the legal battle, the damage is of the same amount. Why not stay quiet and keep the lights on? Who doesn't love peace?2. Patents in employee's name often boost their confidence (if not their wealth). So, you get some productivity boost from their motivation. Sometimes, it's like keeping a score for them and we payout enough to host a memorable dinner with their family.Conversation with Self: You know like I've 15 patents under my belt already and 5 more pending. I am an expert already I think. Everyone will be proud of me.3. Keeping new entrants out.Conversation with Self: Oh, it will be expensive to navigate this patent landmine, so let's choose some other niche/industry for my new startup idea.

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transitivebs将近 7 年前

I initially read this as "Parents: how and why to get them" and I was like oh damn, you can do that after being born?! lmaooooooooooo

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