How Long??? OMG!

[Taterchip]

What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? Nebraska

I'm new here and have been exploring Q&A's. I, and my attorney of course, am filing , on Monday, a non-provisional (and expensive, I might add) patent. I skipped the provisional and went directly for it all. Mistake? I pray not. Anyway...

You mentioned that pat. pend. status is no real protection from others copying and selling my invention. Ok..I kind of new that which is why I did the non-provisional. But what REALLY drew me back to Earth was the time involved in actually having a patent granted. Years?? Do you mean to say that I've got to sit on this for years before going public in order to deter copycats?

Do you know a good bankruptcy lawyer?

 

[divgradcurl]

Mistake? I pray not.

Why would it be a mistake? You have to convert a provisional into a nonprovisional within a year anyway --= if you've already got your invention ready to go, then there really isn't any reason for a provisional -- basically, a provisional is simply used to "lock in" a filing date (or priority date) to give you time to develop the necessary info and write the nonprovisional application. So no, it is unlikely that you have made a mistake.

You mentioned that pat. pend. status is no real protection from others copying and selling my invention. Ok..I kind of new that which is why I did the non-provisional. But what REALLY drew me back to Earth was the time involved in actually having a patent granted. Years?? Do you mean to say that I've got to sit on this for years before going public in order to deter copycats?

No, you don't have to sit on it for years. You could, of course -- but the point about marking an item "patent pending" is to let others know that maybe it isn't worth it to them to copy your product and develop a manufacturing and distribution infrastructure, because in a couple of tears you'll have a patent, and all of that investment will be lost. Further, if someone is that hot under the collar to manufacture and market your invention, maybe it would be a god opportunity for you to license the patent rights to them for a fee, of course!).

Besides, even if you did sit and wait, what if someone else developed your product independently? You'd be in the same boat anyway. Do have reason to believe that there are people out there just waiting for you to announce your invention so that they can steal and/or copy it themselves?

 

[Taterchip]

How Long???

Wow..you brought up some good points I hadn't considered. First off, you stated exactly what my attorney told me about forgetting about non-provisional patents. I feel better already.

The other good point is I had never considered about licensing the patent rights to others who may want to copy. After all, I've got 20 years, right?

Thanks for the pep talk. My faith is restored.